A man in prison in South Australia refused to answer questions about the murder of British tourist Peter Falconio yesterday as police prepared to charge him with the crime.

Armed with his DNA profile, Northern Territory detectives said they already had enough evidence to seek a warrant for a murder charge.

But the work of building a circumstantial case against the man who is in prison on an unrelated charge could delay the charge for up to three weeks.

"We shall not be solely relying on DNA evidence on this matter," NT Police Assistant Commissioner John Daulby said.

"We will allege that there is a substantial circumstantial case that supports the DNA evidence."

Three NT detectives spent an hour in Yatala prison in Adelaide yesterday where the man was interviewed in the presence of his lawyer.

Mr Falconio was shot 300km north of Alice Springs by a gunman who attempted to abduct his girlfriend Joanne Lees in July last year.

NT Police had to bring forward an announcement on a DNA link after news leaked out to the media in Britain, apparently from the families of Mr Falconio or Ms Lees.

Ms Lees' stepfather Vincent James said plans to lay a murder charge should silence her doubters.

"Joanne has told the truth the whole time and people doubted her but now she's completely vindicated," Mr James said.

"She's never wanted to be vindicated. But she's pleased that they've caught this chap."

Mr Falconio's brother, Nick, said the family would fly to Australia once the man had been charged.

Even if the man is charged with the Falconio murder, no decision has yet been made about extraditing him to the NT to face trial or whether he will stand trial on the South Australian charges first.

NT Attorney-General Peter Toyne told parliament the NT and SA directors of public prosecutions were already discussing the case.

Detectives from the Alice Springs-based Falconio task force have been in Adelaide since Monday searching for clues, Mr Daulby said.

They included a crime scene examiner who was analysing what Mr Daulby described as "a number of significant items" seized from the man by SA police.

Police were gathering evidence about the man's movements in the NT around July 14 last year when the British couple were ambushed.

Police would allege that the man was pictured by a surveillance camera at a service station in Alice Springs, 300km south of the murder scene, within hours of the crime, Mr Daulby said.

Mr Daulby would not explain why the man had not been arrested when he was questioned by West Australian police in Broome about the Falconio case a year ago.

"Certainly any communication between us and other jurisdictions, in particular I think you're meaning WA, will be subject to internal issues and I don't think I can say anymore at this point in time," he said.
AFTER 15 months of poisonous suspicion, Joanne Lees stands vindicated - her courageous escape finally providing evidence against the man who will be charged with murdering her boyfriend.

Her only fault was surviving a brutal crime, then refusing to talk to the media.

Some reporters, mostly British but several Australian, and usually those who had unsuccessfully offered her big sums of money for an exclusive interview, decided that her silence signalled guilt.

The pariah instincts of the talkback jocks found an echo in their audiences. One observer dubbed it the Lindy Chamberlain-isation of Joanne Lees.

Now the doubters have been silenced.

As her stepfather, Vincent James, told British reporters yesterday: "Joanne has spoken the truth all the time and it's just a pity that some people didn't believe her."

What chastens her accusers most is the knowledge that the crucial evidence had been provided by Ms Lees - the spot of blood splashed on her white T-shirt as a gunman overwhelmed her minutes after killing Peter Falconio.

He then manacled her with homemade handcuffs, bound her legs, gagged her with tape, pulled a hood over her head and thrust her into the rear of his utility while he went to get Mr Falconio's body.

In the next few minutes, Ms Lees saved her own life. She manoeuvred her hands in front of her, tore off the hood, freed her legs and ran into the desert darkness. For hours she hid as the gunman hunted for her with a torch and a dog. Later, still manacled and gagged, she was picked up by two road train drivers who took her 12km to the Barrow Creek hotel, where she found a refuge and kindness.

Yesterday, one of the drivers, Vince Millar, said: "How could they doubt her story? The simple fact is the country is that big and that wide, people don't understand."

As days passed with no arrest and Ms Lees refusing to meet the media, the questions got tougher and more pointed, until a British journalist asked: "Is Joanne a suspect?"

The answer was an unequivocal "no".

But her refusal to appear before the cameras in Darwin to feed a hungry international news machine bolstered the perception of her as an implausible victim.

Before long the British papers were reporting that police had doubts about her story, implying she was involved in staging her boyfriend's disappearance. She became to the British dinner party what Lindy Chamberlain had been to its Australian counterpart in the early 1980s.

This year, a British TV documentary catalogued the doubts held by Australian journalists about her police statement. The journalists also discussed her temperament - even her dress - in the days after the incident.

HER position was weakened in the eyes of the British media (much of which, ironically, lives by the chequebook) when she took $80,000 from a television station to re-enact her ordeal in Australia.

And it was not helped by unfortunate and undeserved remarks she made about her experiences with those who helped her after her ordeal.

Yesterday, the Daily Mail's Richard Shears, who covered the story from the start, said he "was the first to admit that there were elements of her story that caused me to doubt her".

"Today she will be able to face her critics and hold her head high," he wrote.

Under the headline "SHE TOLD THE TRUTH", the Daily Mirror said the DNA match "finally kills off doubts" about her story.

From the start, there had been compelling evidence that Ms Lees was telling the truth. But for their own reasons, police initially decided not to allow the media to see the homemade manacles or release a videotape of a suspect. It was a mistake, and Ms Lees suffered.

When, 13 days after her ordeal, she reluctantly agreed to meet the media, it was with unprecedented restrictions: only one reporter and a few cameramen, questions submitted in writing.

That day, the world saw the truth - a young woman overwhelmed by her fate.
THE humble lemon - championed by legendary lover Casanova as a contraceptive - has been touted as a potential breakthrough in preventing the spread of HIV in the Third World.

Melbourne scientist Roger Short will tell a conference in South Africa today that lemon juice has proved extremely potent in killing the virus which causes AIDS.

His clinical tests also vindicated the view of traditional medicine that the highly acidic juice was an effective contraceptive.

Professor Short said that although more tests were needed, preliminary findings held considerable promise for combating the AIDS pandemic in sub-Saharan Africa and South-East Asia, where lemons and limes were plentiful and cheap.

Women in these countries could apply lemon juice vaginally before sex as a safeguard against the disease.

WA AIDS Council executive director Trish Langdon welcomed the research but cautioned that it probably had limited applicability in Australia, where the disease was mostly transmitted between homosexual men.

She said condoms still provided the most reliable protection.

And she also believed more research was needed on the efficacy of lemon juice and the safety of repeated application on sensitive genital areas.

Professor Short, who teaches at Melbourne University, described the treatment as the rediscovery of a contraceptive used by Mediterranean women 300-400 years ago. Casanova had reportedly advocated the use of lemon halves as a primitive forerunner of cervical caps and diaphragms.

Professor Short's interest was kindled by a group of elderly women who approached him after a speech on the history of contraception.

"They all . . . said they'd used lemon juice to regulate their families when they were young women and it was fine," he said.

He had been prompted to test the anti-viral properties of lemon because it was well known that HIV could be killed with acidic solutions. It was effective in destroying HIV in a petri dish, but further tests were needed to check if it killed HIV in semen.

If it did, "then we have quite a discovery", he said, because it was a natural compound, freely available and could be used by anyone.

Although testing the treatment on women was ethically fraught, he said it was more unethical to keep the treatment secret because five million people were diagnosed with HIV each year.

"What you should be doing is going around the world telling people the situation and they can make up their own minds," Professor Short said.

The United Nations has predicted that more than 68 million people will die of AIDS in the next 20 years without massive intervention efforts.

About 22 million people have died worldwide and another 40 million are HIV-positive.
A SURFER attacked by a shark at Cottesloe wants fishing banned from popular surf breaks, claiming irresponsible fishermen are putting lives at risk.

Paul Hughes, 34, of Shoalwater, was one of three surfers south of the Cottesloe groyne last month when a shark hit his board three times, leaving nose marks in the fibreglass.

He said the 2.4m shark attacked him about 60m offshore before swimming off. He warned the other two surfers and paddled in. He thought it was a mako or white pointer shark.

Mr Hughes, who has surfed in Perth for 21 years, reported the incident to the Water Police.

He also praised the daily air patrols and a shark spotter hotline but said beachgoers would be safer if fishing at swimming and surf beaches was banned.

Sharks were attracted to carelessly discarded fish scraps and it was a mistake for surfers and anglers to be so close.

"My analogy is that if you have a steak house in the Kalahari Desert, you're going to attract a few lions," he said. "If you put fish around, the chances are that something that eats fish is going to be in that area."

But WA's leading recreational fishing body said there was no justification for banning fishing from boats or groynes.

Recfishwest policy officer Martin Holtz said there might be fishermen who disposed of carcasses and offal inappropriately. But it was unlikely that normal burley used to attract fish would bring sharks.

The State Government last month announced measures such as daily air patrols from November 1 to February 3 and the shark spotter hotline in a bid to boost public confidence.

Department of Fisheries scientist Rod Lenanton said banning recreational fishing was not the answer but anglers needed to be educated not to discard fish and offal into the water.
PREMIER Geoff Gallop has accused the Federal Government of backing away from promises of a national firefighting strategy ahead of what is expected to be a severe bushfire season in WA.

The Federal Government announced the plans in January, saying a national approach would lead to the better coordination of personnel and resources to target bushfire flashpoints.

WA was promised two fixed-wing fire bombers and a medium-sized helicopter, costing $1.7 million a year. About $1.3 million would have been funded by the Commonwealth.

But Dr Gallop said WA appeared to have been abandoned by Commonwealth Regional Services Minister Wilson Tuckey, who was focusing the firefighting efforts only on south-east Australia.

"We were hopeful that it would have been sorted out a month ago but unfortunately the Federal Government is adopting a very aggressive take-it-or-leave-it attitude that is not taking into account the needs of all of the States," Dr Gallop said.

"It is never too late to restore a partnership and hopefully the Prime Minister will heed the warnings coming from the States that what they are offering isn't in the interests of our nation."

As Dr Gallop wrote to Prime Minister John Howard urging him to intervene, pilots for the Department of Conservation and Land Management continued to prepare for the bushfire season.

CALM put its eighth fire-spotting plane into service last month and its pilots - three permanent and seven seasonal - have almost finished their training.

"The aim is early detection and aggressive initial attacks," CALM aviation manager Mark Dixon said.

"We are ready for whatever they throw at us."
THE US House of Representatives voted 296-133 to give President George W. Bush broad authority to use military force against Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein - with or without UN support.

The Senate was poised to do the same and deliver Bush a major national security policy victory.

"The House of Representatives has spoken clearly to the world and to the United Nations Security Council: The gathering threat of Iraq must be confronted fully and finally," Bush said immediately after the vote.

The Senate vote today or tomorrow.

While Bush hailed the strong showing, a majority of House Democrats voted against the resolution - even though their leader, Dick Gephardt of Missouri, was one of its authors.

"The issue is how to best protect America. And I believe this resolution does that," Gephardt said.

The Senate was working on the same resolution, voting 75-25 to choke off delaying tactics and move toward a final vote - expected late Thursday. It voted down a series of efforts to weaken or block the resolution, as did the House. Senate leaders of both parties predicted easy passage.

The administration got a big boost when Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle announced he was putting aside his misgivings to support the president.

"I believe it is important for America to speak with one voice," said Daschle, a Democrat. "It is neither a Democratic resolution nor a Republican resolution. It is now a statement of American resolve and values."

But some influential Democrats remained opposed.

"The power to declare war is the most solemn responsibility given to Congress by the Constitution," said Sen. Edward M. Kennedy. "We must not delegate that responsibility to the president in advance."

The resolution gives the president wide latitude in defending the United States against the "continuing threat" posed by Baghdad. In a concession to Democrats, it encourages that all diplomatic means be exhausted before force is used, and requires reports to Congress every 60 days once action is taken.

Bush has said he hopes to work with the United Nations, but wanted congressional authority to act independently if necessary. The strong congressional backing he was receiving could bolster US efforts before the UN Security Council.

At the State Department, spokesman Richard Boucher said "talks are progressing" at the Security Council on wording of a strong new resolution to disarm Iraq that all five-veto holding permanent members can support. The United States and Britain continue to encounter resistance from France, Russia and China.

"Today's vote ... sends a clear message to the Iraqi regime: You must disarm and comply with all existing UN resolutions or (you) will be forced to comply," Bush told a news conference. "There are no other options for the Iraqi regime. There can be no negotiations. The days of Iraq acting as an outlaw state are coming to an end."

The war resolution comes nearly 11 years after Congress voted to give Bush's father similar powers to confront Saddam. In the earlier instance, however, an international coalition was already in place to drive Iraqi invaders out of Kuwait. The current Bush administration has faced resistance from allies in its efforts to form a similar international coalition.

In the House, 126 of the chamber's 208 Democrats voted against the war resolution.

Still, that was stronger support than the first President Bush received in 1991 when the House voted 250-183 to authorize force against Iraq.

House Democrats urged the president to work closely with the United Nations before going it alone against Iraq. "Completely bypassing the UN would set a dangerous precedent that would undoubtedly be used by other countries in the future to our and the world's detriment," said Gephardt.

Rep. John Spratt said that without a multilateral approach, "this will be the United States versus Iraq and in some quarters the US versus the Arab and the Muslim world."

Meanwhile, retired Marine Gen. Anthony Zinni, former head of US Central Command, said Thursday that the Bush administration seems unnecessarily rushed about taking on Iraq. Zinni, a former US envoy to the Mideast for the Bush administration, said he considers Saddam "deterrable and containable at this point."

"I'm not convinced we need to do this now," Zinni said at a foreign-policy forum.
THE Full Court today upheld a challenge to the legality of the WA Government's contentious one-vote one-value legislation.

The ruling means country votes in WA will continue to have more weight than city votes.

The WA Labor government had wanted to change the State's electoral laws to give equal weighting to city and country votes - overturning the current situation whereby country votes in WA are worth twice as much as city votes.

The government's so-called one vote one value laws would have required a redrawing of electoral boundaries, to give the country eight fewer lower house seats.

Those seats would have been added to the city.

But the conservative parties believed they would be disadvantaged by a reduction of bush seats, and in April mounted a challenge to the bill's legality in the WA Supreme Court.

The Full Court today upheld the challenge, meaning the preservation of the status quo - that country votes will still carry more weight than city ones.
SIMMERING frustration involving police lawyers and counsel representing the royal commission burst to the surface yesterday with heated exchanges.

Ron Davies QC, representing a former armed robbery squad detective, and Ken Pettit SC, counsel assisting the commission, have had several clashes in the commission, but the situation boiled over yesterday.

Mr Davies accused Mr Pettit of misleading and disgraceful conduct because of the way witnesses were being brought on and also revealed that the position was so strained they had agreed to correspond only by fax.

"He's never sent me a fax to tell me anything since," Mr Davies said. Mr Pettit denied being obstructive.

The dust flew as evidence in the long-running investigation into allegations that armed robbery squad detectives stole about $40,000 from a supermarket hold-up finally ended with evidence from the last two witnesses.

The tension was obvious from the outset yesterday when Mr Pettit tried to call a detective who had not been summoned. Lawyer Josephine Pepe, representing a number of detectives, said that she had been told only in the foyer that her client was required.

Mr Davies, who had been expecting a different witness to be called, then chipped in with the comment: "It becomes very tiresome to arrive here day after day and find something different happening."

This prompted a reply from Commissioner Geoffrey Kennedy: "There is considerable criticism coming from you all the time, Mr Davies."

Mr Davies: Well, because of the way we're being treated by counsel assisting, sir.

Mr Kennedy: I don't think that's a fair comment.

Mr Davies: Well, we ask every night what's happening in the morning. It's nice to know sir, with respect.

Mr Pettit then told the commission that every effort was made to inform counsel what witnesses were going to be called and nothing was deliberately withheld from Mr Davies.

Ms Pepe then jumped to Mr Davies' defence, saying that the surprises with witnesses were unacceptable.

Mr Davies: Sir, I'm sorry, you can say to me again there's a lot of criticism. I've had nothing but misleading answers from Mr Pettit every time I've dealt with him.

Mr Kennedy: That's a very extravagant statement, Mr Davies.

Mr Davies: It is, sir, and it ended with him saying to me 'It looks like I better deal with you only on the fax', and I said 'That's a very good idea' and he's never sent me a fax to tell me anything since.

Mr Davies went on to say that he had had nothing but obstruction from Mr Pettit.

Mr Pettit replied: "All I can say is that that is totally denied. There has not been obstruction. Where things have been available to be related to my friends, it's been done. On occasions, it's not been possible."

Mr Kennedy then wrapped up the debate with the comment: "Well, we should proceed."

After hearing evidence from the final two witnesses, the armed robbery case was wrapped up and the hearings adjourned until Monday.
POLICE Commissioner Barry Matthews admitted yesterday it took officers too long to get to a Salter Point nursing home after staff called for help.

Intruders were seen early on Tuesday morning and staff called police but it was 37 minutes before help arrived.

But Mr Matthews dismissed claims the delay left staff and 60 frail residents vulnerable to an attack.

Police were called at 2.06am after two nurses and two carers saw three silhouettes in the office area of the Peter Arney Home.

At 2.21am, police called the nursing home, told the staff they were on their way and asked if the intruders were still on the premises. Staff told police they were unsure but believed they could have left.

But at 2.24am staff, who locked themselves in a kitchen, called police again after one of them saw an intruder.

Police arrived at 2.43am but the intruders had left after ransacking the office area and breaking into the main part of the home.

Philip Montgomery, husband of one of the nurses, said his wife had lost confidence in the police and was concerned about what would happen in a similar situation in future.

She was traumatised and unsure of how she would react back at work next week.

Australian Nursing Federation State secretary Mark Olson said it was shameful that nurses and carers had to endure the ordeal with residents exposed to such a danger while waiting for police protection.

"This terrible incident highlights the vulnerability of people living and working in nursing homes," he said. "Despite the best efforts of the nursing home and the staff, there is no substitute for quick response times for the police force in such situations."

Mr Matthews conceded the response could have been more timely.

There were two patrol cars in neighbouring Manning where officers were chasing a stolen car. He said one car was diverted from that job to attend the nursing home after the second call.

"I think ideally we should have pulled the second car out of the neighbourhood earlier," he said. "At the end of the day we can only rely on what we are told from the people who call you. All we had was a report of a silhouette of two or three people.

"The notion that there was a danger to people is just not true. This was an unoccupied office building."

Mr Olson wanted an assurance from the commissioner that the response would not be repeated with future incidents.

"Clearly new protocols need to be devised to give priority and swift protection to those people in our community - the elderly," he said.

But Mr Matthews said the priorities assigned to incidents were already satisfactory.

"We have looked at our processes. We have the staff there, we have the numbers there," he said.

"The protocols are correct. I think it was just a decision made at a time."

A TEAM of surgeons has begun five days of complex operations on burns victims who were among 36 people airlifted to Perth after the terrorist attack in Bali.

The victims' injuries range from shrapnel wounds to burns covering up to 80 per cent of their bodies.

One of the most critical, Jodie O'Shea, 29, from the Sydney suburb of Como, died yesterday of massive burns.

Medical teams at Royal Perth Hospital's (RPH) world-class burns unit have treated 26 of the evacuees.

One with relatively minor injuries was released yesterday after treatment.

RPH received another two victims overnight, taking the number of wounded currently in its wards to 24 - including a critically-ill Scot, three Germans and New Zealander Andrew Stanaway, who are all in a stable condition.

Surgeons and nurses began a five-day series of operations on 21 of the patients today.

They started at 8am (WST) and do not expect to finish until Sunday night.

The less critically injured are undergoing surgery first, while doctors and nurses work to stabilise the six most seriously injured patients, and grow skin for grafting.

Among the RPH patients are West Australians Tracey Thomas, 41, who is critical; Stuart Henderson, 25, Tracey Ball, 31, Ms Ball's sister Belinda Kemp, 25, and Aaron Lindsey, 19, all of whom are stable.

Simone Hanley, 28, of NSW, was in a critical condition in intensive care, and Joel Murchie, 35, also of NSW, was stable.

The remaining victims of the terror attack sent to Perth for treatment have been admitted to Fremantle and Sir Charles Gairdner hospitals. Some have been released.

The five patients still at Fremantle Hospital include a boy and a woman from NSW, and two boys and a girl from WA, all of whom are in a stable condition.

Most had suffered shrapnel injuries.

Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital had four Australian patients remaining today.

It was not known what states they were from, but they all in a stable condition.

FOREIGN Minister Alexander Downer has dismissed as silly suggestions that the Indonesian military or America's CIA may have played a role in the Bali terror bombing.

Mr Downer, speaking in Jakarta after meeting Indonesia's political and security affairs minister General Susilo Bambang Yudhoyno, condemned the conspiracy theories.

One of the suspects in the bombing, Indonesia's Jemaah Islamiyah organisation, has claimed the CIA was involved in the attack which killed more than 180 people, including scores of Australians.

As well, the discovery of traces of the military plastic explosive C4 at the site of the bombing has raised questions about whether the Indonesian army may have been involved.

"Of all the conspiracies that I have been hearing about this devastating event in Bali, among the sillier was that the Americans were responsible, or the CIA was responsible for it, or the TNI (Indonesian army)," Mr Downer said.

"I don't accept that unproductive proposition."

While suspicion has fallen on Jemaah Islamiyah because of its alleged links with al-Qaeda, Mr Downer said there was still no evidence as to who was responsible for the bombing.

Indonesian newspapers today quoted unnamed sources as saying about eight professional bombers in two multi-purpose vans had staged the Bali bomb blasts.

Quoting an unnamed police source in Bali, the Koran Tempo daily newspaper said the bombers appeared to be very professional and could have used remote control devices to blow up two crowded nightclubs at Kuta Beach on Saturday.

The newspaper also cited information from an unnamed official of the National Intelligence Agency (BIN) who said the bombing was carried out by seven Indonesians under the leadership of someone from the Middle East.

Mr Downer was later to meet with Indonesian President Megawati Sukarnoputri to discuss security issues arising from the attack.

PROSECUTORS in the bodies-in-the-barrels murder trial today opened their case for a second time within days, detailing horrific allegations of torture and mutilation.

South Australian Supreme Court Justice Brian Martin today warned a new jury panel the details were "most unpleasant" and they should expect to react with a range of emotions.

The trial, expected to last at least six months, started on Monday but stopped abruptly yesterday after an original juror told Justice Martin she could no longer continue.

The whole jury was subsequently discharged and a new group of eight women and seven men were empanelled today before the Crown restarted its opening submissions.

Before the court were John Justin Bunting, 36, and Robert Joe Wagner, 30.

Bunting has pleaded not guilty to 12 counts of murder, while Wagner has pleaded not guilty to eight counts of murder and one of assisting an offender.

Last month, Wagner pleaded guilty to three counts of murder.

The charges relate to the eight bodies found at Snowtown, north of Adelaide, two bodies buried in the backyard of an Adelaide home and two found in other places.

Two other men were also charged in relation to some of the killings.

Mark Ray Haydon, 43, will face three counts of murder in a separate trial at a later date.

James Spyridon Vlassakis, 22, last year pleaded guilty to four counts of murder and was jailed for a minimum of 42 years.

Opening her argument today, prosecutor Wendy Abraham told the court police were met with the pungent smell of rotting meat when they discovered six plastic barrels in a bank vault at Snowtown in May 1999.

Ms Abraham said the barrels contained the mutilated bodies of eight people.

There would be evidence detailing how some of the victims were tortured and how some bodies were dismembered and had flesh removed from bones.

Five bodies in the barrels had their hands and feet removed, four had gags in their mouths held in place by tape while four had ropes around their necks.

Post-mortem examinations were unable to determine the cause of death in every case but five of the victims died from strangulation, Ms Abraham said.

INDONESIAN officials are intensively questioning a security guard and another man about the deadly nightclub bombing in Bali and say traces of C-4 plastic explosives were found at the scene of the blast.

With Indonesia under increasing international pressure to combat terrorism, a violent Muslim group with ties to Indonesia's military disbanded Tuesday - the first apparent sign the government was getting serious about moving against Islamic extremism.

The announcement by the group, Laskar Jihad, came as the accused spiritual leader of another extremist network linked to the al-Qaida terror network said he would submit to police questioning.

Most of the nearly 200 victims of Saturday's blast were foreign tourists, and the grim toll prompted calls for Indonesia to crack down on al-Qaida terrorists and local allies blamed for the bombing. US President George W. Bush said Monday he planned to talk to Indonesian President Megawati Sukarnoputri about the need to stop terrorism.

"You cannot pretend it (terrorism) doesn't exist in your country," US Secretary of State Colin Powell said, adding he hoped the attack "reinforces Indonesia's determination to deal with this kind of threat."

Police spokesman Maj. Gen. Saleh Saaf said police have questioned at least 47 people about the blast - and that a security guard and another man were being "intensively interrogated." He denied reports the two had been arrested.

The second man was the brother of a man whose identification card was found at the blast scene, intelligence officers said on condition of anonymity.

Traces of the military explosive C-4 - a puttylike plastic explosive used in the attack two years ago on the USS Cole in Yemen - were found at the scene, National Police Chief Da'i Bachtiar said. Richard C. Reid, the alleged al-Qaida-trained shoe bomber thwarted on an American Airlines flight, packed explosive that appeared to be C-4 into his shoes.

In past cases in Indonesia, whenever C-4 has been found in any bombing it has been traced to the military, raising speculation the explosive was bought or stolen from military stocks.

Indonesia's intelligence chief, Mohamad Abdul Hendropriyono, told reporters his organization was cooperating with foreign agencies in the investigation.

"This attack has been well planned and it required expertise in handling high-tech (bombs)," he said.

Megawati's government is in a delicate position - looking for ways to prevent terrorism without sparking further attacks or unrest in Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim nation.

Laskar Jihad's dissolution is a relatively easy way for Jakarta to show its willingness to fight terrorism, and perhaps gain ground in its efforts to restart American military aid. The group is not suspected in the Bali bombings, but putting it out of operation gives the government much-needed public relations points amid accusations it has turned a blind eye to extremist violence.

In recent months, the activities of the group, which has deep ties to Indonesia's military, have become an increasing embarrassment for authorities.

As the Bush administration pushed to re-establish ties with the Indonesian military - cut in 1999 in the wake of abuses in East Timor - Laskar Jihad's military connection was cited by congressional critics as proof the military continued to represent the main threat to Indonesia's fragile democracy.

Achmad Michdan, legal adviser to Laskar Jihad, which has waged sectarian warfare against Christians on the outlying Maluku islands, told reporters in Jakarta the group was disbanding.

Michdan insisted the decision was not connected to the bombing and was rooted in theological issues. "It is an internal matter," he said.

A CANADIAN national has been sentenced to life imprisonment for the second time for importing at least 40kg of heroin - a quantity the judge said was a declaration of war on the community.

Chung Hing Law, 44, was found guilty of playing a major role in four importations of heroin between December 1993 and January 1995 into Australia.

Jailed for life in 1999 he had his conviction quashed two years later after the Court of Criminal Appeal found the jury had been given a direction earlier declared by the High Court to be unsafe.

He was retried and again convicted.

NSW Supreme Court Justice Brian Sully today imposed another life sentence.

This time the judge set a non-parole period of 30 years, warning Law if he was released he would remain on parole for the rest of his life.

Importation and trafficking of "a quantity of heroin of the amount here is in a very real sense a declaration of war upon this community", Justice Sully said.

"What the courts can do is to punish drug-related crime in a way which signals plainly to drug traffickers, especially foreign drug traffickers, that the courts are able and willing to calibrate their sentences until a point is reached at which ... fear of punishment risked will neutralise the greed."

Police were alerted to the major drug ring by millions of dollars being sent overseas by one of the gang.

Law, who gave no evidence at either trial, had claimed he was a legitimate business man involved in marketing glass sculptures.

THE Indonesian cleric who heads the extremist Islamic group Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) linked to the Bali bombing visited Australia in 1997 before he was put on an immigration watch list.

But just what he did in Australia is not known.

The visit occurred the year before he returned to Indonesia after 13 years exile in Malaysia.

A spokeswoman for the Department of Immigration confirmed his stay.

"While we don't usually comment on the movements of individuals, I can tell you that our records indicate that Mr Abu Bakar Bashir has not been in Australia for nearly five years," she said.

The spokeswoman refused to comment further on dates of his visit or visits and whether he may have been here more recently under an alias.

A government source said he had been on no alert list at that time.

In a recent article, United Kingdom terrorist expert Rohan Gunaratna, author of Inside Al Qaeda - Global Network of Terror, said Bashir was accompanied by JI founder Abdullah Sungkar at the invitation of the Australian support network established by Osama bin Laden.

Sungkar died in 1999 and Bashir took over the organisation which has since been linked to terrorist group al-Qaeda.

He said Sungkar's views were outlined in an article in the February-March 1997 issue of the Sydney-based Islamic youth movement magazine Call of Islam.

"JI also raised funds in Australia and funds were transferred from Australia first to JI Malaysia and then with the disruption of the JI network in Malaysia to JI Indonesia," Mr Gunaratna said in the article in the Australian newspaper.

He said Australia had a long history of hosting support networks for various overseas terror groups.

These are organisations within ethnic communities which raise funds and provide basic support, often under the guise of legitimate charity activities.

He said Australia had no choice but to work with regional nations to disrupt and destroy the JI organisations.

But Senate changes to anti-terrorist legislation removed the power to proscribe particular terrorist-linked organisations.

Instead, the government must rely on the United Nations Security Council adding JI to its list of terror groups.

That obliges cooperating nations to blacklist JI and freeze any international funding passing through their countries.

Attorney-General Daryl Williams today said Australia would be pushing as hard as possible for UN listing of JI.

"Once the Security Council has listed the organisation then we can list it in Australia with the consequences the Australian terrorism and terrorist organisation offences will apply," he said on ABC radio.

Mr Williams indicated he would have preferred to retain the power to list terror organisations without first going to the UN.

"In the review (of terrorist legislation and procedures) that will certainly be reconsidered," he said.

THE season's first box of cherries today sold for more than the price of a family car.

And the buyers said it was an honour to pay $40,000 for the fruit at the 13th annual Cherry Auction held at Sydney Markets at Flemington.

The money will go to the Children's Hospital at Westmead.

The successful bid came from four well-known Sydney Market identities calling themselves The Four Wise Men.

Group spokesman Billy Chalk said they were happy to support such a worthy cause.

"This $40,000 could not go to a better cause," he said.

"It's quite an honour for us to have bought the cherries.

"We have all been blessed with healthy kids and healthy grandchildren, and we are proud to be able to help many less fortunate kids and their families."

Mr Chalk said the cherries would be taken to the Children's Hospital for the sick kids to enjoy.

In addition to the $40,0000 paid for the cherries, the huge crowd of fruit and vegetable traders bid for sporting memorabilia, raising a grand total of about $70,000 for the hospital.

Two weeks ago a tray of 12 mangoes was auctioned for charity, raising $36,000.

ABORIGINAL Affairs Minister Philip Ruddock has reportedly supported an Aboriginal leader in endorsing promised marriages in which men pay for girls to become their wives.

Mr Ruddock reportedly told The Australian newspaper he had no problem with arranged marriages provided young people consented and their human rights were not violated.

Young Aboriginal leader Kim Hill had earlier released a statement saying the practice provided harmony in indigenous communities.

The paper said the comments came after a 15-year-old promised wife was raped by her 50-year-old tribal husband in the Northern Territory.

The girl was promised to convicted killer Jackie Pascoe Jamilmira, the report said.

But Aboriginal Social Justice Commissioner Bill Jonas said tribal law should be overruled by white law when it violated human rights.

A NEW report today revealed more than six out 10 young homeless people were in debt to Centrelink.

The National Welfare Rights Network report found some people on the Youth Allowance were forced to repay up to $37 a week from their $150 a week allowance.

"Far too many young Australians are in this situation and are left to struggle on $16 per day," network president Michael Raper said.

"How can they survive, pay rent, buy food, books, a bus ticket or dress for an interview?

"Many of the young people who are landed with such massive debts are homeless because of family dysfunction - often due to alcohol, gambling, drugs and/or violence.

"The system should be providing a hand-up not a put-down."

He called on the government to immediately raise the Youth Allowance by $10 a week and establish an inquiry into the viability of the allowance and the debt levels imposed by Centrelink.

Mr Raper said the debt levels were usually a result of people on Youth Allowance borrowing up to $500 from Centrelink in the form of an advance payment.

The National Welfare Rights Network report, titled Runaway Youth Debt - no allowance for youth, will be released today to coincide with the United Nations anti-poverty day.

PRIME Minister John Howard will discuss the possibility of strengthening gun laws when he meets with State and Territory leaders on Thursday.

State and Territory leaders will be in Canberra on Thursday for a memorial service for those killed and injured in the Bali bombings.

Mr Howard said he would speak with them after the service about strengthening gun laws.

"I intend also at that time raise with them the further strengthening of gun laws through whatever additional steps need to be taken by the both the Commonwealth and the state governments," he told parliament.

"The only way we can get a sensible strengthening of guns laws in this country is for all of the governments to work together and and not for people to start blaming one or another jurisdiction."

Talk of a buy-back of hand guns follows yesterday's fatal shooting at Monash University.

Two people were killed and five more injured when a man armed with at least two handguns opened fire after entering a tutorial room in the Sir Robert Menzies building at the Melbourne university's Clayton campus.

Mr Howard introduced a buy-back of semi-automatic guns following the Port Arthur massacre in 1996, when 35 people were killed.

"And there is already independent evidence that the buy-back that followed the combined actions of Commonwealth and state governments at that time, which had very strong bi-partisan support ... withdrew many hundreds of thousands of guns from the community," he said.

"And there is some independent evidence that that has been successful in reducing the murder rate in Australia, certainly the murder rate involving guns."

Mr Howard said he was alarmed at the large number of hand guns in the community.

"I have a very strong view ... that consistent with protecting the rights of sporting shooters in a legitimate sense I am still alarmed at the large number of automatic hand guns there are circulating in the Australian community," he said.

Mr Howard said there had been an increase in Customs security recently, with every parcel arriving in Australia via post big enough to carry a gun being x-rayed.

He said 70 per cent of all air cargo consignments entering Australia were x-rayed and by November there would be equipment to x-ray containers arriving in the country.

Man remanded in custody on Monash shooting charges A 36-year-old man charged with murdering two students yesterday at Monash University appeared briefly in the Melbourne Magistrates Court this morning.

Huan Yun Xiang, a fourth year commerce honours student, did not apply for bail and was not required to enter a plea.

Xiang, who is also charged with five counts of attempted murder, appeared in court in the same blue hooded waterproof suit he was wearing yesterday.

He had a cut above his right eye and both eyes were bruised and swollen.

Magistrate Wendy Wilmouth told Xiang, through a Cantonese interpreter, she would adjourn the matter for a committal mention on February 25.

Xiang will be represented by Victorian Legal Aid solicitors, who will receive a brief on the case by January 14.

PRIME Minister John Howard today offered to help families of Bali bomb blast victims who were having trouble getting to Canberra at short notice for a national memorial service.

Labor backbencher Graham Edwards used parliament question time to ask Mr Howard if he had held discussions with airlines to ensure family members could make the service at short notice.

Seven members of the Kingsley Football Club, which is located in Mr Edwards' electorate of Cowan, were killed in the Bali attacks.

Mr Howard said if there was a difficulty with transporting family members to Canberra he would look into it.

"I will make every inquiry and if in fact there's going to be a difficulty we'll see what alternative arrangements we can make," he said.

Federal parliament will adjourn on Thursday for the inter-denominational service for the victims of the Bali bombing which will be held in Parliament House's Great Hall.

Mr Howard said family members of victims had been invited to the service, with the government to cover the transport and accommodation costs of two members from each family.

The service, to begin at 10am (AEST), will be led by Australian Defence Force senior chaplain Bishop Tom Frame.

ONE man was confirmed dead and another remained missing under tonnes of concrete rubble after a partially constructed water tower collapsed in the NSW Riverina today.

Another worker had been taken to the local hospital with minor injuries, NSW police said.

Five men plummeted nearly 20m to the ground amid concrete rubble when the huge water tank under construction at Lake Cargelligo, in the NSW Riverina, collapsed just before noon (AEST).

A police spokesman said two men remained trapped in the rubble and were able to speak with rescuers while one man had been taken to Lake Cargelligo Hospital with minor injuries.

"They are cutting them free, they are talking to them," the spokesman said.

"There is one confirmed deceased, and one missing whose condition is unknown."

NRMA CareFlight spokesman Ian Badham said the workers fell 18m and were trapped under 40 cubic metres of concrete.

Police said the five men were pouring cement on the roof of the tower in Eubalong Road when the scaffolding caved in, plunging the workers and wet concrete into the water tank inside.

Inspector Steve Nicholas of Parkes police said authorities were concerned for the missing man.

"We hold grave fears," he said.

Rescue personnel have been lowered into the tank.

Paramedics, State Emergency Services, fire brigade officers and Salvation Army volunteers are also at the scene.

A specialist medical team from St George Hospital in Sydney has also been sent to the township about 590km west of Sydney.

THE son-in-law of the late fugitive businessman Christopher Skase faces immediate arrest by Federal Police following his expected arrival at Sydney airport tomorrow.

An Australian Federal Police (AFP) spokesman said Tony Larkins, 40, would be arrested and taken before a bankruptcy court as soon as he arrived on the flight from Thailand.

He will be issued with a warrant for failing to appear at a 2000 Federal Court bankruptcy hearing into Christopher Skase's financial position.

"He will be arrested," the AFP spokesman said. "He will be taken to the bankruptcy court.

"We are arresting (him) in relation to his non-appearance in relation to a bankruptcy."

Mr Larkins was reported in a newspaper two days ago as saying even jail would provide him with a better living standard than his recent hardships.

Mr Larkins, Skase's one-time business manager, says he is destitute and relying on the charity of newly-found friends in Thailand.

He said he and his wife Amanda, Pixie Skase's daughter, and their daughter, Charlotte, were left with nothing when Skase died from stomach cancer in August last year.

"I have been living on the floor at the house of a Thai family I met only months ago," he said.

"I expect jail will probably be better than here. I get television, a couple of square meals a day, a free ride from the airport if the authorities collect me."

The couple moved to Majorca in 1991 after Skase was declared bankrupt owing $177 million to creditors of the collapsed company Qintex.

The AFP spokesman said he did not have immediate information on Mr Larkins' flight time into Sydney.

AUSTRALIAN schools are failing boys and need widespread reform, according to a national parliamentary report.

Kerry Bartlett, chairman of the House of Representatives committee on education, which released the report yesterday, said girls were outperforming boys at school by almost every measure and evidence showed the gap had widened since 1990.

More male teachers, recognition of the fact that boys learn differently and programs aimed specifically at boys were three of the measures the committee recommended to reverse the trend.

"Failing to address the underachievement of boys damages the community and the boys themselves," Mr Bartlett said.

"Better outcomes for boys do not have to come at the expense of girls." He said boys tended to learn visually rather than verbally, required stronger discipline and needed male role models in schools.

Education Minister Alan Carpenter said the State Government was already working to implement many of the report's recommendations.

The State Government had launched a campaign to attract 2300 new teachers into the State's schools with an emphasis on getting male teachers into primary schools.

The Government has also put extra money into recruiting literacy and numeracy specialists to help early primary school students. Recent figures show that boys are more likely to have literacy problems as early as Year 3.

WA Council of State School Organisations spokeswoman Karen Vincent said the group gave broad support to the recommendations, but did not want to see girls' needs ignored. "We agree we need to work better with boys in the classrooms and we know that boys are learning in different ways," she said.

Labor MHR Rod Sawford, deputy chairman of the committee, said that since 1990 the pendulum had swung too far and the education system was ignoring the needs of boys. "The minority view was that there was a real problem but the rest of the organisations were in denial," he said.

He said that some principals were getting good results by implementing their own ideas to achieve equal results for girls and boys, often without the support of the nation's education departments.

These included City Beach Senior High School, whose principal Ian Lillico was an authority on boys' education.

Some of the recommendations, such as higher salaries for teachers and spending to reduce class sizes, will cost money but Mr Bartlett said it would be possible to serve boys better without increasing spending.

The report said all students, but especially boys, benefited from having both male and female teachers as role models but this was proving difficult with a big drop in the number of men taking up primary school teaching.

ANDREW HENNESSEY believes he and his mate are alive because they played it cool when a pistol-wielding couple attacked them as they slept in their car next to the North West Coastal Highway.

Mr Hennessey, 28, a fishing boat skipper, was driving to Perth from Carnarvon early on Saturday for his daughter's fifth birthday with deckhand John Pestana, 25, and pulled over just before sunrise 10km north of the Overlander Roadhouse.

"We fell asleep for a good two hours and woke up to a guy wielding a jemmy bar through the driver's side window of the car where I was asleep and the glass shattered and went everywhere," he said.

Mr Hennessey woke Mr Pestana, who managed to get out of the car and tackle the man. He was hit with the bar several times but wrestled it from his attacker.

Mr Hennessey grabbed a lump of wood and dodged a woman, who had a knife.

"We had the better of them - we both had weapons, the tables had turned," he said.

"Then he produced what I thought was a 9mm Glock pistol and pointed it directly at my mate's head."

The Beeliar father of two said the man fired a shot past Mr Pestana's head and demanded his crowbar back. Once he had the bar, he snatched the keys from the fishermen's Mitsubishi Colt and the couple ran into the bush.

Mr Hennessey and Mr Pestana flagged down a passing truck and were taken to hospital.

Police believe the couple are driving a white Toyota four-wheel-drive personnel carrier with the driver's side mirror missing and possible damage to the front panels.

Carnarvon Det-Sen. Const. Chris Baldey said two other people may be travelling with the couple. The couple had tried to flag down a car on Thursday evening. He warned people against camping on the roadside and to avoid isolated campsites in the area.

The two suspects were described as having dark complexions, possibly of Middle Eastern descent, and aged in their late 20s to early 30s.

Any information to Geraldton police station on 9923 4555 or Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.

A TEMPORARY school in Australia's fastest selling regional subdivision has grown so fast the Education Department will build a $5 million permanent school two years ahead of schedule.

Dalyellup Primary School, at Dalyellup Beach Estate 7km south of Bunbury, opened in June 2001 with 91 students as WA's 10th "school in shops".

Housed in buildings which will be the estate's community centre and shopping centre, the school has grown to 265 students with 340 expected to start the next school year there and another 50 expected to join it during the year.

The rapid growth has forced classes into three transportable rooms, with another five to be set up at the start of next year.

Principal Gary Quinn said two more transportable classrooms would be needed if enrolments kept rising.

He was relieved the students, whose numbers had been boosted by children from suburbs surrounding the estate, would soon be in bigger surroundings nearby.

Originally scheduled for completion by 2006, the permanent site, including three pre-primary and 14 primary classrooms, is due to open in 2004.

Satterley project manager Graeme Morris, whose company developed Dalyellup Beach in a joint venture with Home Building Society and the State Government, said many people buying land on the 3000-lot estate were parents in their 30s with young children.

Satterley had urged the State to bring forward construction of a permanent school.

HILLS dams connected to the Perth metropolitan water supply topped the 200 gigalitre mark late yesterday for the first time in two years.

The milestone coincided with the start of a campaign aimed at getting consumers to save 45 gigalitres over summer.

Yesterday, the dams held 17 gigalitres more than at the same time last year but 102 gigalitres less than in 2000.

The two days a week sprinkler restrictions introduced last summer will continue.

The Water Corporation is aiming at the 70 per cent of total water use which goes on gardens as its main target for water saving.

Last year, a saving of 45 gigalitres below the estimated unrestricted consumption was achieved.

Adding their weight to the awareness program yesterday were players from the Western Warriors, Orioles, Perth Glory and Western Heelers who took part in a mulching competition in Kings Park.

The Western Heelers took the prize for speed and neatness with the baseballers completing the task which included applying wetting agent and then spreading a 2m square with mulch.

Government Enterprises Minister Nick Griffiths, who launched the campaign yesterday at the start of National Water Week, said garden mulching was a priority as the community entered its second year of sprinkler restrictions.

"During summer up to 70 per cent of scheme water is used on lawns and gardens," Mr Griffiths said.

"We demonstrated last year that a significant amount of water could be saved with little effect on our lawns and gardens. As a community we saved 45 gigalitres.

"That was a magnificent response and to get us through another difficult few very hot months we are asking the community to again save 45 gigalitres."

He said the worst drought conditions since 1914 with a second year of below-average winter rainfall had resulted in the dams being at 30 per cent of capacity with not much more inflow expected before summer.

About 60 per cent of demand is met from bores with three new bores in the deep Yarragadee aquifer at Gwelup, Carine and Scarborough and nine new bores in the Mirrabooka field this summer.

Water Corporation spokesman Phil Kneebone said the summer conservation campaign was aimed particularly at nurseries, land developers, schools and retailers.

A PROTECTED witness who described herself as one of Kalgoorlie's top 10 mid-level amphetamine dealers claims it was common knowledge that rogue detectives "greenlighted" certain drug dealers in the late 1990s.

The woman, known as C5, told the police royal commission yesterday that in 1998 Det-Sgt Silvio Cinquina tried to extort $1000 a week from her as protection money. Another time, Sgt Cinquina tipped C5 off about an impending police raid on her Kalgoorlie home.

C5 claimed Sgt Cinquina also offered to set her up as an ecstasy dealer by supplying her with 100 tablets a week for six months.

The inquiry is investigating allegations that six officers or former officers from Kalgoorlie were involved in drug dealing. In 1998, Sgt Cinquina was second-in-command at Kalgoorlie to then Det-Sen. Sgt Kevin Reilly, who was sacked this year.

After being shown a list of protected witnesses, counsel assisting Stephen Hall asked C5 whether she knew if any of them had been greenlighted.

C5 denied getting the green light to deal but she identified a heroin and speed dealer known as C9 who had.

C5: I'd heard a lot about it, like, over the years. I didn't know that 100 per cent but there was (sic) other dealers, like, that aren't mentioned there, too, that were greenlighted.

C5 said she knew C9 was involved in drug dealing in Kalgoorlie but claimed he never received police attention.

Mr Hall: Was it widely known that he was dealing in drugs?

C5: Pretty much, yeah.

Another protected witness, C8 - a rival dealer to C9 - was asked by Mr Hall whether C9 got a lot of police attention.

C8: Definitely not.

Mr Hall: Do you know why he didn't?

C8: It's only hearsay but . . . very common knowledge in that town of, yeah, his involvement with the police. One in particular.

Earlier, C5 told the inquiry that in mid-1998, Sgt Cinquina approached her at the Foundry Hotel with an offer of police protection.

"He come (sic) up to me and he said to me, 'You leave a little something out for us next time we come round and we'll keep the boys away from you'," she said.

"Then he followed on to say, 'One large a week and I'll keep them away from you', which I sort of worked out he referred to as being $1000."

C5 also said that a few days after an approach from Anti-Corruption Commission investigators in June 1999, Sgt Cinquina and Mr Reilly "showed up on my doorstep" at 3am.

"I've opened it up and I was quite shocked to see them there," C5 said.

"And they said, 'Did the Anti-Corruption Commission come and see you?' and I said, 'Yes' and they said, 'What did you tell them?'

"I just told them that youse are all corrupt, to sack the lot of youse. And they (said) oh, 'Good girl, good girl' and they were gone again."

Late yesterday, Sgt Cinquina, who testified last week, was recalled to respond to C5's allegations. He denied all of C5's claims.

ALL-ROUNDER Kade Harvey today demolished the England bowling attack, leading the Australian Cricket Board Chairman's XI to 7-304 off 50 overs in a one-day tour match at Lilac Hill.

With temperatures topping 30 degrees celsius, the West Australian put paid to the tourists' bowling attack, smashing 114 off just 88 balls,

He and captain Michael Hussey (69) put on 152 runs for the sixth wicket to set up the hefty total for the visitors.

Harvey hit 10 fours and six sixes in his 97-minute knock.

The tourists started poorly with quick Matthew Hoggard opening the match with two wides.

Young quick Stephen Harmison set an early scare through the England camp after appearing to injure his knee trying to stop a four in the second over.

He left the field but returned just two overs later only to bowl 16 wides for the innings.

Left-handed West Australian opening pair Chris Rogers and Marcus North had a 57-run opening partnership before Hoggard had North (22) out lofting a simple catch to England captain Nasser Hussain at cover.

Just 12 runs later, Glamorgan speedster Simon Jones made an instant impact with his first ball of the tour, forcing Rogers (30) to prod a simple catch to John Crawley at gully.

England spinner Ashley Giles then put the brakes on the innings with three wickets as the home team slumped to 5-122.

Giles picked up Ryan Campbell (14) and Brad Hogg (0) in the one over before having former Test batsman David Hookes caught on the boundary after the Victorian coach had hit him for six in the same over.

Hussey and Harvey resurrected the innings before Hussey became Jones' second victim.

After bringing up the 300 for the invitation team, Harvey was caught on the boundary by Marcus Trescothick.

AUSTRALIA has beaten Pakistan by an innings and 20 runs to win the third cricket Test in Sharjah.

The Australians took an hour to get the two wickets they needed today to record an historic clean sweep of their first series at neutral venues after the tour was shifted from Pakistan for safety reasons.

Andy Bichel picked up both wickets as Pakistan was bowled out for 203 after making 221 and being forced to follow-on in reply to Australia's 444.

This Test will be remembered for Steve Waugh's redemptive century, Glenn McGrath's 400th Test wicket and Shane Warne's merciless rout as the Aussies proved their versatility, thriving in the humidity of Colombo and the searing heat of the Middle East.

All three series wins came on pitches which weren't conducive to Australia's attack.

But pressure in the form of relentless accuracy from the pace bowlers and some Warne magic netted the rewards.

In Waugh's 14th series as captain, he recorded his 10th series win (with two losses and two draws) as well as his sixth clean sweep to continue a remarkable run in charge.

With Waugh at the helm, Australia has lost just four of 40 Tests and continues to triumph over all-comers despite question marks hanging over the side.

The biggest concerns going into this series were the Waugh twins, who had been dropped from the one-day team and had been out of form during the previous summer.

Steve Waugh shut the door on his critics with an unbeaten 103 in Australia's first innings here.

His brother has not been so fortunate, finishing this series with an average of 20 despite making 55 in his first knock.

His occasional flourishes are netting fewer and fewer runs and after 128 Tests - including 107 on the trot - he may be close to the axe ahead of the Ashes series.

The tireless McGrath and reborn fitness fanatic Warne were the key weapons for Australia, taking the bulk of the Pakistan wickets.

McGrath became the eighth bowler to take 400 wickets in Test cricket and Warne broke the record for the best haul by an Australian in a three-Test series.

He took 27 in this series - bettering the mark jointly held by Richie Benaud and Dennis Lillee.

Benaud took 23 against India in 1956-57 while Lillee did it against England in 1979-80.

His stock weapon was his new "slider' - a straight ball which has bit of back-spin.

He scored numerous lbw dismissals against befuddled Pakistanis who could do no more than prod forward in the vain hope the ball would spin past the edge of the bat.

With the bat, Ricky Ponting was outstanding.

Centuries in the first and third Tests netted him 342 runs at an average of 85.50.

Matthew Hayden, with his match-winning 119 in the oven-like conditions of the second Test, reaffirmed himself as one of the toughest batsmen in world cricket.

He finished with 246 runs at an average of 64.

The series was totally Australia's apart from a minor fightback in the first match from Pakistan.

That was a false dawn for the raw side, however, with humiliating scores of 59 and 53 in the second Test marking the two lowest points in Pakistan's 50 years of Test cricket.

In making apologies for Pakistan, it was missing the heart of its batting with Yousuf Youhana and Inzamam-Ul-Haq out injured while veteran opener Saeed Anwar chose not to play.

Injuries to Abdur Razzaq and Shoaib Akhtar further decimated the side for the third Test.

But in Hasan Raza, Faisal Iqbal and Taufeeq Umar, Pakistan appears to have three youngsters ready to make their mark.

Australia lost Jason Gillespie to injury after the first Test but Andy Bichel stepped up to his role with typical efficiency.

AUSTRALIAN Davis Cup captain John Fitzgerald is backing Lleyton Hewitt to fend off Andre Agassi's challenge for the season-end No.1 tennis ranking.

Hewitt, last year's Champions Race winner, is leading again but Agassi narrowed the gap to just 43 points by winning the Madrid Masters at the weekend.

Fitzgerald was confident Hewitt had the game to combat the American, though he could see the battle going right down to the wire at the season finale, the Masters Cup in Shanghai.

"It's a great battle," he said. "They are two great players going head-to-head. Agassi is a great player who can win on any surface.

"But Lleyton has a good game to play against him. Agassi beat him in the US Open but he (Hewitt) has a good record and it should be a great match-up."

Hewitt is currently playing the Stockholm Open, while Agassi is in St Petersburg.

Both will head to Paris and then the eight-man Masters Cup, which Hewitt won in Sydney last year.

"For Lleyton's sake I hope he can do well in Stockholm and the Paris Indoors but it could all come down to the last tournament in Shanghai," he said.

As Australian Davis Cup captain, Fitzgerald has a vested interest in Hewitt remaining top of the tree and hopes the 21-year-old will be fit to take on Great Britain in February's Davis Cup first round tie.

Fitzgerald confirmed the venue and surface for that rubber would be announced in the "next couple of weeks", and he was wary not to underestimate Britain's potential to cause an upset, despite its lack of depth beyond its top two players.

"If both Tim Henman and Greg Rusedski play they are a force, they will be dangerous," he said.

Sweden's captain Mats Wilander has suggested a Davis Cup-style teams format be adopted in the Olympics in a bid to persuade more of the world's leading players to take part.

The seven-time Grand Slam winner argued tennis' inclusion in its current format was "a disgrace" and only deserved recognition as an Olympic sport if it was played as a team game.

But Fitzgerald insisted: "I think its healthy to have tennis in the Olympics. Lleyton, Pat Rafter and Mark Philippoussis all played. It is a special event every four years and is a chance for players to represent their country."

Fitzgerald was speaking at a Milo Project 12 tennis camp for Australia's elite youngsters, geared at producing the Hewitts and Rafters of the future, and is confident the system will bear fruit in the not too distant future.

"We have not had anywhere near enough champions coming through in the last 15 years, but we are on the right track," he said.

"There is hard work to do but I have lots of faith we can produce more numbers as the years go by."

IAN Thorpe is expected to keep fans waiting until late next week over an anticipated showdown against Olympic nemesis Pieter van den Hoogenband in Melbourne in December.

Van den Hoogenband confirmed yesterday he will compete at the World Cup meet but Thorpe is yet to commit to the shortcourse event.

While Thorpe's appearance would be a promoter's dream, Australian Swimming's high performance director Greg Hodge said today the 20-year-old world record holder would be under no pressure to race van den Hoogenband in Melbourne.

He said that decision was up to Thorpe and his new coach, Tracey Menzies.

"He's only been back in the water a week and I'm not expecting him to make a decision until the last minute," Hodge said.

Van den Hoogenband is the only swimmer to have beaten Thorpe over 200m freestyle in the past three years, winning the Olympic gold medal in Sydney two years ago.

The last time they raced was at last year's world championships in Fukuoka, Japan, where Thorpe turned the tables in a dramatic way, beating van den Hoogenband with a world record.

But van den Hoogenband has been in better form this season, clocking one minute 44.89 seconds to win 200m freestyle gold at the European Championships in Berlin.

That time is only 0.18s slower than Thorpe's best for the season of 1:44.71 to win gold at the Manchester Commonwealth Games.

Italian Massi Rosolino, who won bronze behind van den Hoogenband and Thorpe in Sydney, has also confirmed as a starter for the Melbourne meet.

Rosolino plans to train with Melbourne coach Ian Pope leading into next year's Barcelona world titles.

VETERAN forward Alastair Lynch has agreed to play on next season with AFL premier the Brisbane Lions.

Lynch, who will turn 35 next June, advised coach Leigh Matthews of his decision late yesterday.

The 271-game veteran could have been tempted to retire after back-to-back premierships, including a four goal haul in last month's grand final win over Collingwood.

But Lynch said today the lure of a possible premiership hat-trick prompted his decision to play on.

"The club is in a unique position to be successful again next year and I want to be part of it," Lynch said in a statement.

Lynch, set for his 10th campaign in Brisbane after being lured north from Fitzroy in 1994, is coming off a career-best 74 goals this year and but for a costly two-match suspension in August might have challenged Melbourne skipper David Neitz for the Coleman Medal.

RICHMOND AFL Club today confirmed the resignation of chief executive Mark Brayshaw.

Brayshaw's departure came soon after the arrival of former Kangaroos chief executive Greg Miller as football director at Punt Road, and he is considered a favourite to succeed Brayshaw.

Brayshaw said he would be taking up a job in the sport/leisure industry after three years at the helm of Richmond.

"I am saddened to leave Richmond and have always felt privileged to lead the club," Brayshaw said.

"When the board appointed me to the role of chief executive officer in 1999, I achieved a long-standing ambition.

"I was honoured and every day since then I have relished the challenge of running this fantastic club.

"At 36 years of age, to be offered such a fantastic commercial opportunity is too good to decline.

"While I have loved my time at Richmond, from my family's perspective, I am making the right decision."

Tigers president Clinton Casey said club revenue had increased 50 per cent under Brayshaw's leadership.

"He's done an exceptional job leading the club for the last three years," Casey said.

"The Richmond Football Club is almost unrecognisable from when he arrived here and he leaves it well placed for his successor to attain the ultimate in AFL triumphs."

November 01, 2002 A B O U T U S T H E W E S T O N L I N E T H E W E S T S H O P T A B F O R M R E G I O N A L S T H E G A M E















Friday
Showers
19�‹C

Saturday
Early shower, then fine
22�‹C

Sunday
Fine
27�‹C

Monday
Fine
25�‹C



















School earthquake toll rises to 23



SAN GIULIANO DI PUGLIA, Italy

EMERGENCY crews clawed through the remains of a nursery school today, searching for children buried when an earthquake leveled their classrooms during a Halloween party.

At least 23 people were killed, nearly all of them children at the school.

Rescuers guided by voices under the slabs of concrete used cranes, sledgehammers, blowtorches and their bare hands to reach the youngsters, freeing six children and a teacher from the rubble well after nightfall last night.

But the death toll mounted quickly after midnight. State television said early today that 22 people had been confirmed dead - 20 inside the school, including at least two teachers but most of them children, and two women in nearby homes. A sports centre was converted into a makeshift morgue.

Earlier news reports had said that more than a dozen children and one adult remained in the rubble.

The 5.4-magnitude quake hit the Campobasso area northeast of Naples in the Molise region at 11:33 am yesterday.

San Giuliano di Puglia, a village of about 1,195 people, was the hardest hit, with several buildings damaged. The ANSA news agency said 3000 people in the region were left homeless, unable or unwilling to sleep in their damaged homes.

The yellow nursery school in San Giuliano di Puglia collapsed entirely on itself, trapping 56 children, their teachers and two janitors inside as they celebrated Halloween. By this morning, 26 children and three teachers had been rescued.

Anguished parents kept a vigil outside the wreckage, bundled in blankets to guard against the evening chill, with temperatures around 11C.

The government's forestry department conducted an aerial survey of the small area hardest hit and determined about 70 per cent of the homes were damaged, with collapsed roofs or cracked walls, the AGI news agency said.

The quake's epicentre was in Campobasso, a city located about 80km northeast of Naples and about 225km southeast of Rome.

The quake was felt across the Adriatic in Croatia, particularly on high floors of apartment buildings, the Croatian Seismological Institute said.

Rescue teams poured into the tiny village from nearby regions, and Premier Silvio Berlusconi arrived at the area early today and said all measures would be taken to help residents.

"There are no limits," he said. "We have already decreed a state of emergency, and already put all means at their disposition."

In 1980, an earthquake in the Naples area killed 2570 people and left 30,000 homeless.


AUSTRALIAN Muslims living in Bunbury say they are too scared to leave their homes fearing racist attacks.

Their fear follows raids by federal police and ASIO officers across Australia this week in an attempt to weed out Muslim extremists, and a newspaper report of a training camp for Bashir supporters in Bunbury.

But the former head of WA's anti-terrorist group, who is also the Bunbury district's top police officer, said the Bunbury allegations were false.

Despite this, its Muslim women are too scared to leave their homes, fearing assaults.

Emih Bytol broke down in tears as she explained that she was born on Christmas Island and had lived in this country for 30 years, but will not walk out her front door.

Her husband, Okay Bytol, who is the secretary of the Islamic Association of Bunbury, said all the city's Muslim women hold the same fears.

"My wife is worried to go out of the house, but I have told her to go out and not worry because she is part of Australia and is Australian," he said.

"Most of the women are worried because when they go out they have to cover their heads, but for men people don't know if we are Muslims or not."

My Bytol called a meeting of Bunbury Muslims last night and told them they had nothing to fear because Australian laws would protect them.

He said Bunbury's Islamic community was saddened by the Bali terrorist attacks, but has called on other Australians to try to understand there are 1.2 billion Muslims in the world, and only a tiny minority were extremists.

My Bytol also said reports of a training camp for supporters of Abu Bakar Bashir were wrong.

"Anything happen here people would let me know because I've been living in Bunbury for 15 years and I have never heard of anything like that," he said.

"The Islamic Association of Bunbury meets on a regular basis and we would know if there was a camp."

Mr Bytol's friend, Brother Musa, has a property near Bunbury, but Mr Bytol said it was for hunting, fishing and swimming.

Most of the Muslims who live in Bunbury come from Malaysia and Cocos and Christmas Islands, and many have been born in Australia.

PRIME Minister John Howard today defended raids on Indonesian families with suspected terrorist links, warning there could be more to come.

ASIO has been accused of being heavy-handed for conducting what have been described as Rambo-style raids on homes in Perth, Melbourne and Sydney, beginning last Sunday.

Some of those questioned are believed to have attended lectures by Indonesian Islamic leader Abu Bakar Bashir, who is thought to be linked to the outlawed terrorist group Jemaah Islamiah (JI), suspected of involvement in the Bali bombings.

Mr Howard said the raids were conducted in the national interest, denying any targeting of the Muslim community.

"There were reasons for those raids and I defend 100 per cent what ASIO has done," he told Radio 3AW.

ASIO has not commented on the nature of the intelligence which prompted the raids but has denied they would have been carried out only because the occupant had attended a sermon by a radical preacher.

Attorney-General Daryl Williams told Radio 2SM the evidence presented to him had justified the warrants to search the homes.

Mr Williams said complaint mechanisms were in place for anybody who believed ASIO had overstepped the mark.

"Some people might allege it's a breach of human rights to have your door opened and police enter your house without your permission," he said.

"(But) I would regard being blown up as a much more fundamental breach of human rights."

Mr Howard also flagged the possibility of more raids.

"There have been a number and there could be more," Mr Howard said.

The prime minister downplayed the need for a dedicated department of homeland security, suggested by NSW Premier Bob Carr yesterday.

Australia did not need a special home security minister at this stage, he said.

Mr Howard took over coordination of anti-terrorism measures from Mr Williams last week.

Immigration Minister Philip Ruddock, who spoke at a homeland security conference today, told reporters the structures for dealing with terrorism were not as important as the measures being taken.

"Taking it away from the prime minister and giving it to another minister is little more than a name change," he said.

But Kurt Campbell, a former undersecretary of defence in the Clinton administration, told ABC radio it made sense for the Australians to think more carefully about issues associated with domestic security.

"It makes enormous sense to have a convening body at the federal level that sets standards, that brings people together, that attempts to understand the nature of the threats that are posed internally inside the country," he said.

NSW police commissioner Ken Moroney told the conference a whole of government approach was needed to help combat terrorism.

"If we are to make a significant contribution to the fight against terrorism, we must first focus upon prevention," he said.

"The key driver in prevention is the recognition that intelligence and the sharing of intelligence is absolutely critical."

AUSTRALIAN Federal Police have identified a substance used in the production of chemicals as the likely major ingredient of the bomb that blew apart the Sari Club in Bali.

The use of chlorate also pointed to an experienced bombmaker, the AFP said.

AFP head of the Bali investigation Graham Ashton said forensic evidence found at the Sari Club was being tested in the United Kingdom, but the AFP believed chlorate had been used.

"We are having some tests on the substance known as chlorate which we are starting to believe was the substance involved," he said.

"We have found chlorate traces in the crater."

The AFP believe the bomb was between 50-150kg and placed in an empty locked white Mitsubishi L300 van outside the Sari Club.

Heard up to 15km away, the bomb produced a pressure wave which caused fragmentation and then a large fire.

More than 180 people died in the blasts, up to 87 of them Australian, and hundreds more were injured.

Death had been very, very quick, Mr Ashton said.

The use of chlorate led police to believe that this was not a first-time bombmaker.

"The assessment really is that you'd have to have this above-average knowledge," Mr Ashton said.

"You don't get that in first-time manufacture.

"Overall, the degree of coordination, including the vehicle placement, really reflected a high degree of planning and a high degree of expertise.

"From the perspective of those who committed this act, the vehicle was placed in the position to maximise casualties in the Sari Club."

Chlorate is commonly used in the manufacture of chemicals like detergent but is also known as an explosive.

In September, 2002, 400kg of chlorate had been stolen from a site in Java and this was being investigated.

Another significant booster charge, such as TNT, would have been needed to ignite the chlorate, Mr Ashton said.

He used 3-D laser imaging to help lay out the chronology of events uncovered by Indonesian, Australian and other investigators.

The first bomb exploded above the ground in Paddy's Bar at around 11.05pm on October 12 and was probably planted immediately before it was detonated.

Police believe the bomb, which was possibly detonated via a mobile phone, was between 500gm and 1kg of TNT and was probably on a table or stool.

Tests were still being conducted to determine the exact method of electronic detonation used, Mr Ashton said.

Fifteen seconds after the Paddy's blast, the bomb in the van parked outside the Sari Club exploded.

Forty-five to 60 seconds after that a third explosion occurred in the suburb of Renon, around the corner from the US consulate.

Up to 1kg of TNT was used in that bomb which was initiated by a mobile phone. No one was injured.

This bomb and the Paddy's Bar bomb had similarities, Mr Ashton said.

The AFP had found no trace of the military plastic explosive C4 initially thought to be in the car bomb.

Police did not believe the bomber was killed in the explosion.

Three suspects sketched from witness accounts are the men police believe planted the Sari Club bomb. Indonesian police say one has been identified, but the AFP would not confirm this.

A 26-YEAR-OLD Bali bombing victim has been placed back on the critical list in Royal Perth Hospital.

Antony Svilisich, of Perth, had been in a critical condition but his health improved slightly earlier this week and he was listed as seriously ill but stable.

But a spokeswoman for RPH said today Mr Svilisich's condition had deteriorated and he was again placed on the critical list.

Another RPH patient who had been critical alongside Mr Svilisich, 28-year-old Simone Hanley from the Sydney suburb of Menai, was upgraded on Tuesday to seriously ill but stable.

She remains in this condition.

RPH continues to treat 10 patients, including eight in the burns unit.

Meanwhile, the hospital, which had to hastily rearrange wards when the Bali victims were admitted, is slowly returning to normal after discharging most of its Bali patients.

All burns patients were now being treated in the hospital's dedicated burns ward.

The plastic surgery ward, which had been turned into an overflow burns ward to accommodate the influx of Bali victims, has been closed while it is completely cleaned.

Burns specialist Fiona Wood has said a menagerie of bugs was brought back by with Bali patients and cleaning would guard against the possibility of infection.

FEDERAL police have stepped up their crackdown on terrorist group Jemaah Islamiyah, raiding more houses and strenuously defending their tactics.

It was revealed yesterday that:


Two more Indonesian Muslim families in Thornlie were raided by Federal police on Wednesday morning.


Intelligence officers spent six hours raiding a Muslim family's home in Melbourne's southern suburbs on Wednesday. Two more were believed to have been raided yesterday.


Two more Sydney families were raided yesterday.


Six Indonesian men working illegally in Sydney, one of whom who is believed to be a Muslim spiritual leader, were detained by the Immigration Department yesterday.

Amid claims that the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation had used heavy-handed tactics, its director-general, Dennis Richardson, said there was more to the raids than he would reveal.

He rejected suggestions the raids were prompted because the suspects were among the audience when Jemaah Islamiyah's alleged spiritual leader, Abu Bakar Bashir, had addressed Muslims in Australia.

But he declined to elaborate on the evidence on which ASIO had acted.

"Self-evidently we could not legally conduct an entry and search on the basis that someone has merely attended a lecture by a cleric who was visiting the country," he said. Mr Richardson also defended the use of sub-machineguns. "ASIO will not decide against action on the grounds that it might constitute a bad look," he said.

"That is not our job and that's not what we're paid to do."

He said the investigation was directed against specific individuals, not religious or ethnic groups.

It was revealed Mr Bashir visited Australia 11 times between 1990 and 1999.

In Thornlie, a board member of the Muslim Al-Hidayah School, Umar Abdullah, said the family of Abdul Rahim Ayub - a religious studies teacher at the school - were woken by heavily armed officers breaking their way into the Yale Road house on Wednesday morning. It is understood Mr Ayub is in Indonesia visiting his sick mother.

A family friend and his wife visited the house to drop medicine to Mr Ayub's wife, who has a medical condition, while the raid was in progress. They are helping to care for her and her six children, aged four to 17.

Brother Abdullah said the children would not be back at school this week. He said Mr Ayub was a good man.

A teacher's aide from the Australian Islamic College and her husband also were interrogated by agents as their two young sons stood by.

It is understood property was not seized from their house, which is in a cul-de-sac close to the homes of the Suparta and Herbert families, who were raided on Wednesday at dawn.

THE State's biggest private health fund, HBF, has posted a $10 million loss, heightening expectations that members will be saddled with premium rises next year.

The poor result was posted despite imposing an average 18 per cent price rise on its 850,000 members - most of whom live in WA - in April.

That increase added an extra $150 a year to an average family policy.

The new result compares with the fund's $19 million profit last year, generated by a 120,000-strong membership surge on the back of the Federal Government's 30 per cent private health rebate and the introduction of the Lifetime Health Cover policy.

Fund spokesman John LeCras said the loss was triggered by continuing high claims levels as new members completed statutory waiting periods, coupled with the fund's inability to raise its premiums last year.

HBF applied for an average 3.25 per cent increase last year but was knocked back by former health minister Michael Wooldridge.

"Once we moved into 2001-02, the claims swing was well and truly upwards and given that for most of that period we had no extra revenue because we were refused our rate increase that's really what has pushed us into deficit," Mr LeCras said.

The price increase took effect only in the last quarter of the financial year. Mr LeCras was unable to rule out an increase next year, when for the first time funds will be allowed to impose inflation rises without Government approval.

He said it was too early to predict what would happen. Claims were still high but there was some evidence they may have peaked.

Australian Consumers' Association health policy officer Nicola Ballenden said price rises were inevitable. She believed they would force many members, especially the young, to reconsider whether private health insurance was value for money.

Australian Health Insurance Association chief Russell Schneider said the loss reflected poorly on the Government's attempts at price control.

Although the tactic might work in the short term, it ultimately meant that funds would not have enough money to satisfy their capital reserves and pay members' claims.

HBF's main competitor in WA, Medibank Private, has reported a record $175 million loss.

THREE thugs became so angry when their local takeaway Italian restaurant ran out of chilli mussels that they drove to the shop and severely beat the owner and his staff, the District Court was told yesterday.

Dean George Damasco, 33, of Bayswater, and Michael John Rigaldi, 44, of Dianella, pleaded guilty to one count each of assault occasioning bodily harm over the incident.

Shaun Adam Damasco, 36, of Dianella, who is alleged to have used a cattle prod capable of producing several thousand volts of electricity on one of the victims, admitted two counts of the same charge.

Prosecutor Philip Urquhart told Chief Judge Kevin Hammond that Dean Damasco's partner had called Papa Gino's in Beechboro to order the mussels on April 1, 1999.

She became angry when told the restaurant had run out of mussels. Mr Damasco later spoke to the owner. "He said that he wanted some food and if the food wasn't any good he was going to kick the delivery driver in the mouth," Mr Urquhart said.

He said Mr Damasco continued to swear before the owner said: "If you want to be like that, the same to you, prick." He then hung up.

Thirty minutes later, Mr Damasco, his brother Shaun and friend Michael Rigaldi arrived at the restaurant in a white van.

They went to the restaurant's back door where Shaun Damasco attacked the chef using the stun gun (cattle prod) while the other men went inside.The attack left the chef unconscious and with a split lip and bruising.

Dean Damasco and Rigaldi beat the owner and delivery boy before smashing crockery.

Neighbours went to their rescue after the owner's wife ran for help. But they were warned off by Shaun Damasco, who stood at the door brandishing the cattle prod, Mr Urquhart said.

The owner's wife also collapsed unconscious during a frantic call to police. A tape recording of the call was played to the court.

Mr Urquhart said the men deserved jail terms. "These were the actions of men who regard themselves as a law unto themselves," he said. "The crown says these victims were soft targets because of their build and their age. The three offenders were all considerably larger than the complainants and the stun gun was designed to intimidate."

Defence lawyers David Moen, Vesna Amidzic and Greg Smith said their clients could be dealt with by suspended prison terms or intensive supervision orders.

They had actually gone to the shop to pick up their order, Mr Moen said.

Mr Smith said Rigaldi had been hit with a big pizza shovel during the incident and had a serious injury that prevented him from working.

The men were remanded in custody for sentencing on November 13.

A FAMILY feud has ended in the Full Court with an elderly woman successfully suing her daughter and son-in-law after relations between them soured.

Myrtle Branch paid nearly $80,000 to help Francis and Joan Lawrence buy land and build a house.

In return she was to live rent-free in a granny flat at the house as long as she liked.

The Lawrences could not afford a house without the help and Mrs Branch was finding it increasingly difficult to manage for herself.

Mrs Branch, 79, was previously estranged from her daughter but they rebuilt their relationship.

She lived with the Lawrences in a rented house while the new house was built but shortly before it was ready the relationship soured again and Mrs Branch moved out.

She sued the Lawrences in the Supreme Court to get back $79,310.

The trial judge found the breakdown of the relationship was a consequence of the women's personalities.

But as a result, the Lawrences had enjoyed the benefit of the money in a circumstance that was never intended.

The judge considered it unconscionable for the Lawrences to retain the benefits of the payment and ordered the money returned.

The Lawrences appealed to the Full Court on the basis the judge should have accepted their defence that most of the money was an advance on Mrs Lawrence's inheritance.

They said it would be unconscionable to require them to repay the money because of their changed circumstances and they were now unlikely to be able to get a loan.

Full Court Justice Christine Wheeler said Mrs Branch had accommodation when she made the agreement and did so to live closer to the Lawrences because she needed assistance.

The terms of contributing money were not specifically expressed but included a condition that their relationship be harmonious. She accepted the trial judge's findings that it was unlikely Mrs Branch would give away such a sum when she had other children entitled to consideration.

The evidence was that the Lawrences could not afford a loan previously and the payments enabled them to live in a nicer house than the one they had rented.

At best, if the house was sold there was nothing to indicate they could not borrow to buy a more modest one. At worst they would have to rent again.

Justice Wheeler found there was no relevant change of position which would make it unconscionable for the Lawrences to be required to repay the money.

The rest of the Full Court bench agreed.

MARK Webber is poised to lead Formula One's most inexperienced team next year.

Webber has reportedly been confirmed as the No.1 driver for Jaguar in 2003 - partnered by Brazilian Antonio Pizzonia.

The 25-year-old Australian rookie and Pizzonia, who competed in Formula 3000 this year, are set to replace veteran Eddie Irvine and Spaniard Pedro de la Rosa.

The move is being widely reported in Britain although Jaguar Racing boss Niki Lauda has yet to confirm next year's driver signings.

Pizzonia, 22, has been praised for the job he did this year as a Williams test driver, while Webber is in line for rookie of the year honours.

Webber's move from Minardi was virtually confirmed yesterday when team owner Paul Stoddart said he did not think his compatriot would be with the outfit in 2003.

The expected new line-up was reported in English newspaper The Sun, which quoted Irvine as being critical of the new duo's lack of experience.

The 36-year-old's contract ended this season and most speculation has him moving back to his original F1 team Jordan to replace Japanese Takuma Sato.

"This does not really affect my plans for the future," Irvine said.

"But if I were a team boss, I would not be happy fielding two inexperienced drivers."

De la Rosa has one year of his Jaguar deal remaining and the signing of Pizzonia presumably depends on the Spanish driver and the team agreeing on a deal.

Jaguar has improved slowly over the past three years and this season Irvine scored eight points, with a best finish of third at the Italian Grand Prix.

Jaguar's spokesman was unavailable for comment and Lauda refused to comment on next season's drivers.

"I don't know when we will get it sorted, but I hope it is within the next few weeks," he told British Autosport Magazine.

Webber scored an emotional two points on his F1 debut at this year's Australian Grand Prix and has had an impressively consistent season.

Pizzonia, who tested successfully for Jaguar last September, has also been praised by Williams team boss Frank Williams, who predicted he would make the grade in Formula One.

"He is quick enough certainly and I think a good enough racer to be in Formula One," he said.

Jaguar spokesman Nav Sidhu said recently that the team was also looking for test drivers for next year.

Sydney's James Courtney was a part-time tester for Jaguar this year but had a huge crash in one of its cars at Monza and is looking to find another F1 testing role.

Courtney was third quickest at his first Formula 3000 test at Imola on Wednesday, as he prepares to move up to the larger formula next year.

The British Formula Ford champion in 2000 and runner-up in this year's British Formula Three championship, Courtney trialled with the International F3000 championship-winning team Arden Motorsport at Imola.

IAN THORPE will reprise his Sydney Olympic rivalry with Dutchman Pieter van den Hoogenband by swimming the 50m at the World Cup meet in Melbourne next month.

However, Thorpe will restrict his involvement to the sprint event as he concentrates on training rather than racing.

The 50m in Melbourne will boast a genuine world class field, including van den Hoogenband, world record holder Mark Foster and European champion Bartosz Kizierowski.

Australians Ashley Callus and Brett Hawke will also swim the event.

"I wasn't going to swim," Thorpe said.

"It's just trying to get some sprinting opportunities in that race format. The reason I am only doing one event is because at this stage I think it's more important to be doing training than racing."

Thorpe has a personal best of 22.37 for the 50m, but concedes he is unlikely to match that time in Melbourne.

The 20-year-old won six gold medals at this year's Commonwealth Games, but did not race the 50m and has never competed over that distance in international competition.

"I think I'll be able to race reasonably well," Thorpe said.

"I wouldn't say I'll be able to race at my best but I think I should be in pretty good condition.

"I have been working very hard, I have been doing a lot of dry land work so I can get the fitness that I lose in having a break.

"But at that stage I hope and think with the training that I'll be doing that I'll be able to race in a reasonable way."

TOP SEED Lleyton Hewitt advanced to the quarterfinals of the Paris Masters with a 6-2, 7-6 (3) win over Russian Yevgeny Kafelnikov overnight.

The Australian sealed the win with an ace on his first match point. He next faces Switzerland's Roger Federer, who beat Tommy Haas of Germany 6-2, 7-6 (2).

Hewitt breezed through the first set but had to hold off Kafelnikov in the second. Kafelnikov took a 5-4 lead, but his momentum was short-lived when Hewitt tied it at 6.

In the tiebreaker, Kafelnikov double-faulted twice and Hewitt set up match point with a forehand winner down the line.

Second-seed Andre Agassi came from behind to beat Australian Open champion Thomas Johansson 6-7 (2), 6-4, 6-3.

Johansson served 16 aces in their first set, but tired in the final two and conceded defeat by sending his last backhand wide.

Agassi, 32, is trying to overtake Wimbledon champion Hewitt for the world No. 1 spot. But he wasn't worrying about their rivalry during the Johansson match.

"It's hard to think about that when I've got to deal with somebody who serves 16 aces in one set," he said. "So I don't spend a lot of time thinking about it.

"But I'm always trying to be No. 1 when I'm on the court."

Agassi trails Hewitt by just 43 points in the ATP Champions Race and could become No. 1 if he outperforms him in Paris. Both players can also win points in next month's season-ending Masters Cup in Shanghai, China.

Hewitt said he wasn't thinking about Agassi's progress in Paris.

"I've just got to take care of business on my side," Hewitt said.

Agassi will play Spaniard Carlos Moya in the quarters. Moya survived six match points before beating titleholder Sebastien Grosjean 3-6, 7-6 (10), 6-1.

American Andy Roddick also advanced after beating Romania's Andrei Pavel 7-6 (5), 6-4. Roddick next plays Thai sensation Paradorn Srichaphan, a 6-1, 6-4 winner over Guillermo Canas.

Third-seeded Marat Safin eliminated Dutch rival Sjeng Schalken 7-5, 7-5 to set up a quarterfinal clash against Nicolas Escude, a possible Davis Cup foe when Russia meets France in the final next month.

Escude advanced by beating Tim Henman 6-4, 6-2, ensuring the British player was out of the running for Shanghai. Haas also missed a chance to play in the elite eight-man event.

Henman's loss ensured that world No. 4 Juan Carlos Ferrero will go to the Cup. Federer also qualified for the event on Thursday, along with French Open champion Albert Costa. Hewitt, Agassi and Safin already were assured a spot.

AUSTRALIAN gymnastics received a double boost today, with Melbourne to host the 2005 world championships and three Australians qualifying for the World Cup final later this month.

World gymnastics governing body FIG confirmed today Melbourne had won the right to host the 11-day world championships in November, 2005.

It will be the second time Australia has hosted the world championships after Brisbane in 1994.

In further good news for the sport, Australia will have three competitors in the prestigious World Cup final for the first time.

Commonwealth Games gold medallists Philippe Rizzo, Allana Slater and Jacqui Dunn have all qualified in the top eight in the world this year for their individual apparatus to earn invitations to the event.

Rizzo will compete in the high bar, Slater in the uneven bars and beam and Dunn in the uneven bars at the event from November 28 to December 1 in Stuttgart, Germany.

But South Australian gymnast Dunn's participation depends on her recovery from a fractured thigh bone which has forced her out of the world championships the week prior to the World Cup final.

Gymnastics Australia chief executive Jane Allen said the decision to award Melbourne the world championships was proof of Australia's rising standing in the sport.

"It's all come at a time when FIG has awarded us the world championships because it is very keen for the championships to come to a country that's developing its program so much," Allen said.

"We've never had three gymnasts at a World Cup final, so that's proof of how much progress we are making in world gymnastics."

Melbourne Exhibition and Convention Centre will be the venue for the 2005 world championships.

This year's world championships will be held in Debrecen, Hungary from November 19-24.

Rizzo, Slater and Pavel Mamin will be Australia's representatives.

ENGLAND fast bowler Darren Gough has been ruled out of next Thursday's first Test against Australia at the Gabba.

Gough and England coach Duncan Fletcher today said the 32-year-old was almost ready to play but his injured knee would not be risked in the Ashes opener.

Gough said he needed one more week to ensure he would be fit enough to play against Australia and he hopes to play in the second Test in Adelaide from November 21.

Young paceman Simon Jones is the favourite to take Gough's position for the first Test but England has yet to name its team to play Queensland in a final hit-out at Allan Border Field from tomorrow.

Opening batsman Michael Vaughan rated himself 75 per cent fit after also battling a knee injury and he said selectors would decide whether he played against Queensland.

TEST paceman Jason Gillespie has declared himself fully fit and ready to prove it against an international-strength NSW batting line-up tomorrow.

Gillespie missed Australia's past two Test matches against Pakistan with a calf strain, the most recent of a long line of injuries to interrupt his international career.

But today he dismissed doubts about his readiness for Australia's Ashes campaign, saying he had been bowling well in practice sessions and was ready to go flat-out for South Australia against the Blues in the ING Cup match at Adelaide Oval.

"I'm fit, I've declared myself fit, so I'll be playing and playing as hard as I can," Gillespie said.

He described tomorrow's one-dayer as an ideal first step in his build-up to the opening Ashes Test, starting on Thursday at the Gabba.

"Ten overs in a game situation will be good, and then leading into the Test there'll be obviously quite a few training sessions that I can get through and then just build up some momentum leading into the Test match," he said.

"I think that's plenty of preparation, and it is good tomorrow to have a hit-out and play a game for the Redbacks.

"You always like to know that you're feeling good and 100 per cent and having a bowl tomorrow will just reinforce that."

Gillespie said he relished the rare opportunity to bowl to present and former Australian team-mates.

The NSW batting line-up includes Steve and Mark Waugh, Michael Bevan and Simon Katich, as well as the nation's most highly rated young batsman Michael Clarke.

"It's good fun, because you know the guys pretty well and you play a lot with them," he said.

"To play against them is a bit of a novelty, it doesn't happen that often, and you really want to try and do well against them so the enthusiasm's there, it's just a big challenge and you just really want to do well."

Gillespie predicted Mark Waugh's performance would be unaffected by his recent axing from the Test side and subsequent international retirement.

"Mark will just do what he normally does, go out there and play cricket and have fun," Gillespie said.

"I'm sure he's looking forward to this game, he always looks forward to playing for NSW, and I think tomorrow will be no different."

But while fellow Australian Test bowlers Glenn McGrath and Shane Warne have publicly stated England will struggle to win a Test in the five-match Ashes series, Gillespie was unwilling to add any predictions of his own.

"I just worry about the things you can control and do the things that are within your control," he said.

"I just go out there and bowl and do the best I can, if you do the right things and stick to your gameplan then things will look after themselves."

HARRY KEWELL ended Leeds' six-match winless run, scoring a late goal to give the English Premier League side a 1-0 victory over Israel's Hapoel Tel Aviv in last night's UEFA Cup second-round, first-leg match.

Leeds had hit the woodwork three times before Kewel struck eight minutes from time, driving in a low shot which skidded off the Elland Road turf and into the bottom right-hand corner for his fourth goal of the season.

Leeds had the upper hand throughout the match and Hapoel goalkeeper Shavit Elimelech was a virtual bystander as first Nick Barmby and then Mark Viduka struck post and bar respectively in the first half.

The second leg will be played in Florence, Italy, as all Israeli teams - both at international and club level - have been forced to play their home matches in neutral venues for the last nine months due to safety and security concerns.

Violence marred attempts at soccer diplomacy Thursday as Turkey's Fenerbahce drew 1-1 with Greece's Panathinaikos in the second round of the UEFA Cup.

Fans scuffled in the stands, threw plastic bottles and displayed banners with regional and historic rivalries in the match in Istanbul. The foreign ministers of both countries watched as Angelos Basinas scored first for the home side before Fenerbahce's Cerquerira Washington equalized.

Meanwhile in Glasgow, Scotland, a Swede gave Celtic a 1-0 win over Blackburn in the UEFA Cup's matchup between British teams.

The late goal from Henrik Larsson gave Scottish champion Celtic the edge in the "Battle of Britain" against English League Cup winners Blackburn.

Larsson scored in the 85th minute, tapping in the rebound after John Hartson's leaping header was parried by Blackburn goalkeeper Brad Friedel.

The match was the first time an English team had played a Scottish team in European competition in five years.

Elsewhere, both Italian clubs won. Title favorite Lazio won 1-0 at home over Red Star Belgrade with a first-half goal by midfielder Stefano Fiore.

Adrian Mutu scored to give Parma a 2-1 win over Poland's Wisla Krakow. Wisla's Maciej Zurawski had earlier equalized Massimo Donati's drive.

Spain's Celta de Vigo, another touted for champion, had cruised to a 3-0 win over Viking, with goals from Saenz Jose Ignacio, Luis Edu and Benedict McCarthy.

Julio Cesar Dely Valdes scored the winner as Malaga beat Poland's Amica Wronki 2-1. Amica's Grzegorz Krol had opened the scoring, and Malaga's Marcelo Romero equalized.

Alaves salvaged a 1-1 draw with Turkey's Besiktas with Fernandez Artuna Abelardo's 90th minute goal.

Apart from Blackburn, other English clubs did well. Fulham's Portuguese striker Luis Boa Morte scored for the first time in 14 months as the London club beat Dynamo Zagreb in Croatia. Steve Marlet and Barry Hayles also scored for the Fulham, which had a one-man advantage for 67 minutes after defender Kristjan Polovanec was sent off.

And first division Ipswich scored a 1-0 win over Czech champion Slovan Liberec through 18-year-old substitute Darren Bent. It was the first game for new manager Joe Royle and a boost for the club which is struggling after being relegated from the Premier League last season.

Ipswich has now also gone undefeated in 31 straight European home games over 40 years.

In Bucharest, Romania, Paris Saint-Germain beat National Bucharest 2-0 with goals from Laurent Leroy and Andre Luiz Moreira. Leroy was sent off in the 65th minute for retaliating after he was fouled in midfield.

In other results: APOEL Nicosia 0, Hertha Berlin 3; Sparta Prague 1, Denizlispor 0; Ferencvaros 0, Stuttgart 0; Sturm Graz 1, Levski Sofia 0; Partizan Belgrade 3, Slavia Prague 1; Austria Vienna 0, Porto 1; Anderlecht 3, Midtjylland 1; Vitesse Arnhem 2 Werder Bremen 1; PAOK Thessaloniki 2, Grasshoppers 1.

On Tuesday, Real Betis won 1-0 at Czech club Viktoria Zizkov, Bordeaux had a 1-0 win at Swedish side Djurgarden, and Schalke defeated Poland's Legia Warsaw 3-2.

The return legs are on Nov. 12 and 14.

ALTHOUGH former Socceroo Mark Bosnich has played only eight games for Chelsea in the past 30 months, he has nearly 6 million reasons for staying with the Premier League club.

According to a report in British newspaper The Sunday Times, Bosnich is one of the highest earners in the English Premier League, pulling in STG2.1 million ($A5.84 million) a season.

That means he'll earn more than one of Australia's greatest soccer exports, Harry Kewell, despite being the third-choice keeper at Chelsea.

His salary makes him the equal 358th highest earner in Britain and the 30th highest paid soccer player.

Chelsea has offered Bosnich the chance to leave when the European transfer window opens again in January.

But Bosnich says he wants to stay and fight for his spot.

Kewell, one of the Premier League's biggest names and arguably the finest footballer this country has produced, earns STG1.9 million ($A5.28 million), bringing him in at 41st overall.

Bosnich's salary also puts him above a number of other Premier League stars including Liverpool and England pair Emile Heskey and Steven Gerrard and Arsenal goalkeeper David Seaman.

Manchester United and England midfielder David Beckham is the highest paid sportsman in England, earning STG15.5 million ($A43.27 million).

Beckham's England teammate, Liverpool striker Michael Owen, makes STG7.44 million ($A20.7 million), while ex-Jaguar Formula One driver Eddie Irvine comes in at third with STG7 million ($A19.5 million).

Bosnich is Chelsea's third-string keeper and has played just one reserves match since last November.

Yet he out-earns teammates Ed de Goey and Carlo Cudicini, who have kept him out of the Chelsea goalmouth for all but seven first team games since he joined the club in January, 2000.

He was once rated as the best goalkeeper in the world before an unhappy stint at Manchester United but vowed not to quit Chelsea even if the west London club continued to freeze him out.

He has repeatedly turned down interview requests and appears more likely to turn up in the social pages of newspapers on the arm of models and television presenters than in the sports pages.

INDONESIAN authorities are holding four possible suspects in the Bali bombings that killed nearly 200 people last month, police officials said today.

Maj. Gen. I Made Mangku Pastika, who is heading the investigation team in Bali, said two additional men were picked up in Surabaya, the capital of East Java province yesterday. Earlier, police announced that they also detained one man in the capital, Jakarta, and another in the city of Medan on Sumatra island.

Pastika did not identify the new detainees and said it was "premature" to name them as suspects, adding that they had been detained after officers determined they bore a resemblance to composite sketches of three suspects released last week by police.

Despite the flurry of activity in recent days, police have refrained from claiming that the nationwide manhunt resulting from the Oct. 12 blasts was making significant progress.

Brig. Gen. Edward Aritonang, spokesman for the international inquiry team, explained that in addition to the four men now in custody, nine others had been detained last week because they resembled suspects depicted in the composite sketches. All were questioned and released without charges.

"We cannot say whether the four are related to the Bali blast or not," Aritonang said Wednesday when asked about the latest detainees.

About 120 detectives and intelligence officers from Australia, the United States, Britain, Japan and other countries are working on the case with Indonesian investigators.

Although no group has claimed responsibility for the blasts, the regional terrorist network Jemaah Islamiyah has emerged as the prime suspect.

Police have detained Abu Bakar Bashir, the group's alleged spiritual leader, but he has not been declared a suspect in the Bali blasts.

Bashir is being held in a police hospital in Jakarta, and doctors said the 64-year-old cleric is too sick to be questioned. Bashir has denied any links with terrorists and said he won't cooperate with police.

Meanwhile, US Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz said one of the aims of terrorist organizations is to drive a wedge between democratic Muslim nations, such as Indonesia, and nations of the West.

Speaking in Washington, Wolfowitz said Indonesia must stop terrorism or be faced with "really terrible consequences" for its nascent democracy.

Wolfowitz, who served as ambassador to the regime of former military dictator Suharto, has pushed to restore US assistance to the Indonesian armed forces. These were suspended in 1999 by the administration of former President Bill Clinton to protest the involvement of the armed forces in human rights atrocities.

Critics say the army remains the biggest threat to Indonesian democracy. They say rights abuses and political assassinations by army units have continued unabated since Suharto's ouster in 1998, and may have included the killings of two American schoolteachers in Papua province in August.

THE tide may be starting to turn.

After dominating sales and awards in recent years, the all-conquering Holden Commodore has finally been beaten, with the new Ford Falcon taking out the best family car section of Australia's Best Cars awards today.

Presented by Australia's combined motoring clubs, the awards are among Australia's most prestigious.

And the family car category is probably the most important, considered by the clubs to be the make-or-break section of the new car market.

Best cars chief judge Ernest Litera said the new BA Falcon was a great car in a category with very little between the final contenders which included the Commodore and the new Toyota Camry.

"Falcon's win was marked by improvements in a number of areas where Commodore has traditionally been a clear leader," the judges said.

"Inside, Ford has tidied up the car, delivering a functional, smart and comfortable cabin with supportive seats, well-positioned controls and good driving position adjustability."

The judges also praised Falcon's new engines, steering and suspension.

But they said the Commodore was not soundly beaten even though it now trailed the Falcon in innovation, ergonomics, performance, smoothness and quietness.

Mr Litera said Falcon's win today would be a major boost to Ford in the local market.

"Ford needed to claw back the ground it has lost against Holden and a win in Australia's Best Cars will give them a major marketing edge," he said.

The winners in the Australia's Best Cars awards announced by the combined motoring clubs today:

TWO men are recovering in a Perth hospital today after being bitten by a brown snake during Melbourne Cup celebrations in a Toodyay pub.

Ray Vesperman, 37, who is known as Vesty, picked up the reptile after seeing it slither into the Toodyay Tavern, east of Perth.

After it sank its fangs into Mr Vesperman's hand he threw it further inside the pub, which was packed with Melbourne Cup revellers.

Licensee Margaret Williamson said the venomous reptile then bit her 48-year-old son, John Smith, after he also picked up the snake.

"My son was outside unloading the beer truck. He heard the commotion, came in and grabbed it and threw it in the street, before another man came and killed it," she said.

The men are recovering in Perth's Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital.

Its spokeswoman said Mr Vesperman was very lucky because he was seriously poisoned and 20 ampules of anti-venene had to be administered.

"Everyone at the tavern did the right thing and got him to appropriate medical care quickly. He is going to be OK," she said.

"Mr Smith could be released from hospital today, but Mr Vesperman is expected to stay another night."

Toxicologists took blood and urine samples from the victims to confirm the reptile was a brown snake, although the dead reptile yesterday shared an ambulance ride with the two men, also helping authorities to identify it.

Meanwhile, a 51-year-old Perth woman was discharged from Royal Perth Hospital today after being bitten by a snake yesterday morning

A LIMPING Ben Tune had one thing on his mind when he arrived in Brisbane today; getting fit for next year's Rugby World Cup.

The luckless Wallaby winger will undergo a MRI scan tomorrow to determine whether surgery is required on the hamstring injury which forced him home from the Australian tour after only 10 minutes on the field.

But he admitted he'd be lucky to escape with a three-month rehabilitation period - the latest in a frustrating list.

"At this stage the best-case scenario is probably a 12-week lay-off which means I will be right for Super 12 and obviously anything longer than that is getting a bit dicey," said Tune after flying back from Buenos Aires where he was hurt in the 17-6 win over the Pumas.

Describing himself as shocked and disappointed, the 25-year-old veteran of 45 Tests said he had no thoughts of retiring, despite his spate of injuries.

"Quitting is definitely not an option," said Tune.

"Just purely because there is still a lot I want to do in the game.

"The World Cup is only just around the corner, so depending on how bad this injury is I am going to have to work really hard to get it right so I can try to at least be available to take part."

Since his debut for the Wallabies in 1996, the Queenslander has been plagued by a run of seemingly unrelated injuries, including a broken jaw, and ankle, shoulder and knee injuries.

Earlier this year he was also embroiled in a scandal after it was revealed a doctor had treated his grazed knee with a banned drug, though Tune was cleared of any wrongdoing.

The hapless Tune was unsure what to make of his run of injuries.

"I call it bad luck but who knows?" he pondered.

"I certainly seem to be getting a lot of it, so I don't know if that is a coincidence.

"I definitely don't think it is my fault by any means because I am a hard trainer and when I do get injured I do all the rehabilitation properly so I can't put it down to that."

Tune said the number of matches played was a concern for some.

"Definitely the guys feel leading into a Super 12, they're probably not as fresh as they would be if they did have a proper off-season," Tune said.

"Physically guys that have played, like Toutai Kefu who's played the last five or six Wallabies seasons, haven't had a decent off-season where they can really get stuck into the weights and do some serious fitness work and mentally switch off.

"But it's probably a little bit late now considering the World Cup is next year - it's a massive year."

PRIME Minister John Howard today said the drought would have economic consequences for a long time to come.

"The economic consequences of this are going to be felt for a long time into the future," Mr Howard told Adelaide radio 5DN.

"The only mitigating factors are that the world prices for those Australian farmers who have been able to keep herds and stock and crops are quite good."

Mr Howard said the drought was one of the worst ever experienced by Australian farmers.

"We're not going to see a break in the weather patterns before possibly March or April next year," he said.

"That is pretty grim news.

"The outlook is not good."

Mr Howard said 70 per cent of the nation was facing very serious water deprivation.

He likened the situation to the droughts of 1982-83, the 1940s, and the federation drought.

Mr Howard said the drought had focused national attention on ways of better using Australia's water resources.

There was no way of drought-proofing Australia, but suggestions such as that by businessman Richard Pratt to cover irrigation channels in some parts of the country would help conserving water, he said.

"We do, as a country, need to see if we can better provide in the future for the impact of drought," Mr Howard said.

"We can't do anything about the current drought, and it would be unrealistic to imagine we would never have droughts in the future.

"But it's not unrealistic that, over time, by taking steps in a lot of areas, we couldn't make the situation better."

Mr Howard said water had to be appropriately priced to ensure it was not wasted.

He said reducing landclearing would go some way to helping conserve water.

The Wentworth Group of scientists who briefed Cabinet yesterday on ways to improve water conservation has called for an end to broadacre landclearing.

REPUBLICANS won control of the US Senate today, ousting Democrats in Georgia and Missouri and giving President George W. Bush's legislative agenda a major boost in the next Congress.

By winning their 50th seat with a victory in Missouri, the Republicans were ensured control of the chamber next year because Vice-President Dick Cheney will cast tie-breaking votes.

The triumph came on a night that began with Democrats clinging to a one-seat margin, and it meant they will have to relinquish the majority they have held since Vermont Sen. James Jeffords abandoned the Republicans in June 2001.

With at least 47 senators, Democrats will still be able to use filibusters - procedural delays - to kill Republican initiatives because such roadblocks need only 41 votes to succeed.

Even so, the Republicans capture of the Senate seemed likely to deny Democrats of their major remaining source of power. Republicans already control the White House and they recaptured their House majority today.

Normally, a president's party must run against history in mid-term elections but the Republicans beat the odds today, seizing control of the Senate and strengthening their House majority.

Democrats grudgingly credited President George W. Bush's aggressive campaigning for results that could provide him considerable political swagger.

The results had Bush and his advisers dreaming about re-election in 2004 and finally get the presidential mandate denied them after Bush's narrow 2000 victory. Presidential spokesman Ari Fleischer said Bush's first priority would be the creation of a Department of Homeland Security.

"The president hopes tonight's results will be an impetus to the Senate to finish its business," Fleischer said.

The results could have foreign policy implications, too, emboldening Bush as he seeks United Nations support for potential war with Iraq.

Bush put his stature on the line, making a political investment that could be counted in dollars and miles - if not in Republican victories that can be directly attributed to him.

He raised more than $140 million for his party's candidates, a record for presidential fund-raising, and visited more than 30 states this election year. In the last five days alone, Bush campaigned for two dozen candidates.

Bush's approval rating has hovered in the high 60s, despite an ailing economy and doubts about his zero-tolerance policy toward Iraq.

BRETT Lee has been told he remains firmly in Australia's Test cricket plans despite being replaced by hometown quick Andrew Bichel for tomorrow's Ashes opener at the Gabba.

Lee was sacked for the first time after modest returns in 17 Tests since recovering from elbow surgery, stalling a career which had lost its glitter since the 25-year-old's explosive debut three years ago.

England's batsmen will be spared Lee's pace but they must now counter the superior control of Bichel on his favourite wicket after the Queenslander's form demanded a place alongside pace spearheads Glenn McGrath and Jason Gillespie.

Lee will play in NSW's home Pura Cup clash with Tasmania from Friday after Australia made the overdue decision to send its 12th man back to his state or grade teams for match play.

"It's the first time he's been dropped so it's a bit of a shock to the system," Australian captain Steve Waugh said.

"He recognises that he needs a bit more of a bowl and if he can get a couple more five-wicket hauls behind him it would be nice.

"He's not far off, he just needs a bit more confidence.

"(Bichel) thoroughly deserves it. It's great to see him play here and he's really excited about it and the crowd will be right behind him."

The 32-year-old will play just his ninth Test after continuing his international renaissance with eight wickets at an average of 13.25 in Australia's two Test victories over Pakistan in Sharjah last month.

Waugh has been a strong supporter of Lee but he has also spoken highly of Bichel, insisting the right-armer has gained a "yard of pace" in the last year and now believes he belongs at Test level.

England coach Duncan Fletcher said the bowling change would not affect the tourists, who remain publicly confident of becoming the first team other than the West Indies to win a series in Australia since Mike Gatting's men retained the Ashes in 1986-87.

Fletcher said England had found some potential weaknesses in the Australian team but he refused to reveal them.

If England hopes to exploit Australia's new batting order, with Damien Martyn moving to four ahead of recalled batsman Darren Lehmann at No.6, Waugh believes it will be disappointed.

"Darren is a very relaxed person and he will go out and play his natural game. I would hate to think he would change anything about the way he plays," Waugh said.

"Damien Martyn was looking to go up the order. He wants more opportunities and he's got that so there shouldn't be any problems."

Waugh wasn't fazed by the outcome of tomorrow's toss, again saying it was "overrated" on a Gabba wicket which looked up to its usual high standard.

The veteran captain turned the heat back on England's young batting stars, including aggressive openers Michael Vaughan and Marcus Trescothick, by insisting the pressure was on them to perform against Australia.

The clash of the dashing Vaughan and Trescothick with the Australian pace battery promises to be one of the most intriguing battles of the summer.

With Lee returning to Sydney, the Australians will call in fringe Queensland players to act as potential fielding substitutes.

Waugh said they decided last month to seek permission from the Australian Cricket Board to make players available for their states if they were carrying the drinks in a Test match.

"It came up in Sharjah because Andrew Bichel had been 12th man two or three times (in previous seasons), lost form and then been overtaken when the chance was there to play for Australia," Waugh said.

"We've come to a flexible arrangement where, if a player needs a good hit-out, they will be available to play four-day cricket or grade cricket, or whatever."

It would not be surprising to see Lee back in the Australian team before the end of the Test series even though he became the second high-profile casualty in as many weeks following the axing of Mark Waugh.

STEVE Waugh is poised to achieve two huge cricket milestones in an Ashes series shaping as one of the most historic in recent years.

When Waugh leads Australia into the fifth Test against England at the SCG he'll join Allan Border as the most capped player in cricket history.

Possibly during that match on home turf, he will also nudge the ball for a single to bring up his 10,000th run in Test cricket.

And later in the match, Shane Warne may well amble in, tweak his wrist and claim his 500th Test scalp.

Waugh needs only five Tests to equal Border's record of 156 and that appears a fait accompli, barring injury, after his century-making return to form in the final Test of the recent Pakistan series.

Going into the opening Ashes Test against England, Waugh has 9,734 runs.

That means another 266 to reach the landmark 10,000.

With Waugh historically scoring about 64 runs per Test match, another five Tests at that rate would take him to 10,054 by the end of the Ashes series.

Waugh also needs one century to equal Don Bradman as Australia's greatest century-maker with 29 tons.

He edged one ton closer to Bradman with an unbeaten 103 against Pakistan, ending a long drought without three figures to his name.

Warne is basking in the best period of his career.

He currently has 477 Test wickets and another 23 wickets in five Tests won't be beyond him.

Historically England has been one of his favourite teams to bowl against and he takes wickets against the old enemy at the rate of five per Test match.

If he does that again this summer, and there's no reason to suggest he won't, he'll become just the second player after West Indian Courtney Walsh to breach the 500 barrier.

Meanwhile, Australia starts a hot favourite to break the record it jointly shares with Engalnd by achieving an eighth consecutive Ashes series win.

PAEDOPHILES will soon have nowhere to hide with a national child sex offender register to be established in Australia.

However, care will be taken to ensure names on the register will not be made public, the Federal Government said.

State and territory police ministers agreed to the plan at the Australasian Police Ministers' Council (APMC) meeting in Darwin yesterday.

NSW Police Minister Michael Costa said the national register would be based on the existing NSW database.

It would give police in all states and territories access to information about paedophiles, he said.

Set up two years ago, the NSW Police Child Protection Register has listed more than 1000 offenders.

While many were still in custody, Mr Costa's office said police had evidence that some offenders had fled interstate.

"Child sex offenders do not respect state borders," Mr Costa said.

"While it might be good for the people of NSW that offenders flee our state laws, they head underground in other jurisdictions.

"A national database will allow police to gather and exchange better evidence ... police will know where they live, where they work, and what car they drive."

A working party would be set up to develop a proposal for a register and would report back at the next APMC in 2003.

The group would include the ABCI (Australian Bureau of Criminal Intelligence) and CrimTrac, a national database system.

Federal Justice Minister Chris Ellison said great care would be taken to ensure names on the register did not become public.

"There's general agreement that we have to be very careful with this database," he said.

"In the United Kingdom, we've seen examples where vigilante groups have been set up and there have been innocent people targeted."

He said the commonwealth was keen to have police play the role of a gatekeeper for the register.

The NSW government introduced the Child Protection (Offenders Registration) Act 2000, following recommendations made by the Wood Royal Commission.

The Act requires that those convicted of serious offences against children must inform police of their whereabouts.

These offences include child murders, sex offences, indecency, kidnapping, child prostitution and pornography.

It also requires them to notify police of any change to their name, employment, motor vehicle and intended travel details.

The information is stored on the register.

Reporting periods vary from between eight and 15 years, depending on the type of offence.

If offenders fail to inform police of changes to their personal details, they face a penalty of up to $11,000 and two years imprisonment.

There are 636 people currently on the register, who must report to police, Mr Costa's office said.

There are another 400 listed on the register, who will begin reporting to police once they are released from prison.

NSW police have advised that 19 people have been charged for failure to report to the register, or for providing false details.

Several interstate and overseas travel alerts have been issued against offenders believed to have left NSW.

Michelle Stubbs, a child sexual abuse surviver and spokeswoman for Advocates for Survivors of Child Abuse, said the move was long overdue.

"Police from all States should ultimately be working together to get the bastards off the streets as quickly as possible," she said.

But civil libertarians claimed the register could unfairly affect those guilty of only minor offences.

BRISBANE centre half-forward Jonathan Brown is poised to re-sign with the Lions in a deal that will secure him until the end of 2006.

The 21-year-old's management group, Sports Resources, have been in negotiations with Brisbane since AFL grand final day and a new three-year extension should be completed by the end of the year.

Brown's current contract expires at the end of next season, but he is considered by the Lions to be too valuable not to be secured long term.

Brown's Melbourne agent John Riordan today said he was confident the Lions would soon be in a position to re-contract Brown.

"Hopefully a new deal will be completed before Christmas," Riordan said.

"Jonathan is certainly keen to stay."

Trading Damian Cupido to Essendon last month will also allow Brisbane to retain experienced premiership players Craig McRae and Martin Pike.

In a similar deal to his one-year contract in 2002, the 29-year-old McRae has agreed to terms to play on for another season.

Pike, 30, is in negotiations with the Lions about a new deal.

It is believed that Brisbane would have struggled to fit McRae and Pike within its salary cap had Cupido not agreed to move to Essendon.

Brisbane begins pre-season training on November 30.

In other news, Port Adelaide has agreed to terms with vastly improved defender Matthew Bishop and the 27-year-old will shortly be re-signed until the end of 2004.

And former Melbourne midfielder Stephen Tingay has been appointed as a full-time assistant fitness coach with Sydney.

Tingay played 162 games for the Demons before injury prematurely ended his career.

He attempted a comeback with the Swans last year before being forced to retire.

MAT ROGER'S hopes of cementing a regular Wallaby starting berth on tour may be dashed by injury.

Already ruled out of Saturday's rugby union Test against Ireland, Rogers is now in serious doubt for the big clash with England at Twickenham the following weekend, coach Eddie Jones conceded today.

That's when Jones plans to play his strongest possible side and, with only a Test against Six Nations battler Italy to follow, Rogers may have little chance to make his case ahead of the World Cup year.

It's a blow for the former league star who impressed coming off the Wallaby bench this year and looked to have the perfect opportunity when fullback Chris Latham was ruled out on the tour eve.

But the rib cartilage injury which forced him from the field in the 17-6 win over Argentina last Saturday has made little improvement since and he did not train with the squad today.

"He's definitely out for the Ireland game, he's going to have to show some pretty rapid improvement to be available for the England Test," Jones said.

Loose forward David Lyons is in a similar predicament - a regular bench player frustrated by injury as he looks to press his claims.

He's set to miss another Test with the injury-hit Wallabies at Lansdowne Road this weekend with his hip flexor injury still troublesome.

"He (Lyons) is still not able to change direction when he runs so he's looking very doubtful for this week again," Jones said.

"The doctor thinks he could be ready for England, at a pinch he could be ready for Ireland. He could be in full training by Thursday. He hasn't been ruled out 100 per cent yet."

Even if Lyons is fit by Thursday, Jones said he would be reluctant to throw him straight into a Test with little match fitness or training.

At least there were some positive signs for the Wallabies today as centre Matt Burke, the obvious replacement for Rogers at fullback, ran for the first time since badly corking his thigh against Argentina.

He sat out the contact session at training for fear of taking another knock but Jones hoped he would train fully on Thursday.

Owen Finegan also ran for most of today's session after missing last week's Test with an ankle injury and should be available for selection.

Matt Cockbain will again start on one flank in Lyons' absence with George Smith on the other while Finegan and David Giffin should battle it out to partner Justin Harrison in the second row, even though Dan Vickerman made a strong debut against the Pumas.

Five eighth Stephen Larkham ran today both at No.10 and fullback in case Burke was ruled out.

Elton Flatley stepped into five eighth when Larkham dropped back and even with Stirling Mortlock shuffled one place in to outside centre and Wendell Sailor and Scott Staniforth the new wingers, Jones was happy with the way the new-look backline gelled.

"We dropped a few balls today but it wasn't through lack of combinations, they were just handling mistakes," Jones said.

"I thought the different mixtures we trained today didn't look too bad."

Jones will name his team on tomorrow.

Ireland, meanwhile, named British Lions centre Brian O'Driscoll as captain in place of the injured Keith Wood.

Ireland team: Girvan Dempsey, Shane Horgan, Brian O'Driscoll (capt), Kevin Maggs, John Kelly, Ronan O'Gara, Peter Stringer, Reggie Corrigan, Shane Byrne, John Hayes, Gary Longwell, Malcolm O'Kelly, Victor Costello, Keith Gleeson, Anthony Foley. Res: Frank Sheahan, Paul Wallace, Leo Cullen, Alan Quinlan, Guy Easterby, David Humphreys.

JASON Oliver was farewelled today with his brother's Melbourne Cup trophy on his coffin.

Damien Oliver yesterday dedicated his Melbourne Cup win to his older brother, killed in a track fall in Perth last week, by saluting to the heavens and declaring:"This one is for you."

Oliver cut short his Cup celebrations and today flew to Perth to join about 1000 racing identities, friends, relatives and supporters to commemorate his brother's life.

"This is the day we celebrate your life, mate, a life that was so fulfilled but still had so much more to give," a tearful Oliver said in his eulogy to the packed Redemptorist Monastery in Perth.

"You will never be forgotten, buddy. I love you."

Hundreds of mourners spilled from the Perth Catholic church, many clutching a pamphlet with a picture of a smiling Jason Oliver, 33, who won more than 690 rides in Western Australia.

Inside the church was Jason's coffin, adorned with purple and yellow flowers and topped with Damien Oliver's replica of the Melbourne Cup.

Also atop the coffin were a photograph of Jason, his riding silks, the mobile phone he never turned off, an Eagles football jumper and a tie.

Tearfully delivering the eulogy, Damien Oliver said he had wanted to become a jockey after seeing Jason's success.

"Jase, it wasn't until you showed me the way with your success that made me want to become a jockey," Damien said.

"Those endless hours of backyard cricket and footy seemed like it was just the other day.

"You touched so many people with your kindness and generosity. Your love for sport and good mates will always live on with us forever."

For the jockeys' heartbroken mother Pat Rudland, today's farewell to her first-born son will have brought back memories of her late husband Ray Oliver, buried 27 years ago after his death in a race fall at Kalgoorlie.

Jason Oliver will be buried in the same plot as his father.

Jason died in Royal Perth Hospital last Tuesday, the day after falling from his mount Savage Cabbage during a 400 metre trial at Belmont.

In the days after his devastated family took his brother off life-support, Damien Oliver announced he would still ride in the Melbourne Cup, the race that stops a nation.

Sentiment pushed punters in the jockeys' home town of Perth to wager a record $8.2 million on the Cup, with $850,000 behind Oliver's mount, and favourite, Media Puzzle.

Among mourners today were leading trainers Lee Freedman and Fred Kersley, and West Coast Eagles players Michael Gardiner and the recently-retired Mark Merenda.

IT was ludicrous that ordinary people in Australia should have access to handguns, Prime Minister John Howard said today.

Mr Howard said he supported the concept of police, security industry workers and sporting shooters having such weapons.

"But other than that you don't need a handgun, and I think most people would agree with that," he told Adelaide radio station 5DN today.

"It's just ludicrous that people should have access, and a lot of them do. The rules are too lax."

Mr Howard said he did not want to see Australia go down the American path where guns were "worshipped."

"That has brought untold misery and harm and also delivered to America a very high murder rate for a stable, open western society," he said.

Mr Howard also pointed to independent research which indicated that the number of gun-related murders in Australia had fallen in the six years since the prohibition on long arms in the wake of the Port Arthur massacre.

"They are measured claims I make," he said.

"I'm not pretending that we can abolish evil and unhappiness by getting rid of guns.

"But I do think we can make a contribution towards a safer Australia and I do think we have a capacity to avoid going down the American path."

Last month's double fatality shooting at Monash University in Melbourne has prompted the federal government to move to restrict access to high-powered pistols, proposing a buyback scheme and amnesty for owners of illegal weapons.

PRIME Minister John Howard today strongly rejected Labor suggestions that he did not like Asians and that Australia's trade policies were based on his personal prejudices.

A spokesman for Mr Howard said the claim was "a dishonest slur from a desperate opposition willing to say anything to attract attention.

"It was not worthy of further comment," the spokesman said.

Opposition trade spokesman Craig Emerson earlier said part of the government's strong push for a free trade deal with the United States was due to Mr Howard's unwillingness to deal with Asia.

"Or maybe the prime minister hasn't changed his spots: he just doesn't like Asians," Dr Emerson said.

"It's time the prime minister put Australia's national interest on trade policy ahead of his personal prejudices."

In Adelaide, Foreign Affairs Minister Alexander Downer described Dr Emerson's comments as pathetic.

"Mr Emerson is obviously somebody who is desperately trying to get the federal Labor Party into the media," he told reporters.

"This sort of language, those type of claims, one could only describe as pathetic."

GARETH NAVEN has stepped into the coaching arena and is plotting Perth Glory's downfall.

The uncompromising midfielder, who was club captain of the National Soccer League side for six seasons, is assisting State coach Gary Marocchi in the build up to Sunday's challenge match against the Glory at Perth Oval.

If the WA players are in need of a pre-match pep talk after enduring a season that has stretched to about eight months, Naven, who is well-known for his commitment, might be just the man to provide it.

"The Glory are seven games into their season, they're training full time and they're going to have players in there who are trying to push for the first team. I'd expect them to be getting stuck in," Naven said.

"But there's no pressure on (the State players) so they can just go out and express themselves, get the ball and be confident."

Naven, who ended his association with the Glory last season and played for Perth in the local competition before injuring an ankle, intends to play on next season. For now, though, he is enjoying the change in direction.

"Gary asked me to help him out and I thought it was a good opportunity for me because I'd wanted to try to stay involved (in the game) somehow," Naven said.

He wants to return something to a game that has given him so much over the years and sees the assistant role, with his former Glory boss Marocchi, as an ideal starting point.

However, the post-Glory version of Naven, 33, is no longer completely immersed in the game.

"I've got plenty of things to do at home so I've sort of realised that soccer isn't everything," he said.

Meanwhile, Glory defender David Tarka could miss four NSL games next month after being called into the Australian under-20 squad for the Oceania World Youth Championship qualifiers in Vanuatu.

The squad goes into camp on December 1 and takes on Vanuatu (December 7) and Papua New Guinea two days later. If successful, Australia will be involved in play-off matches on December 19 and 22.


Long-serving ECU Joondalup coach Paul Simmons said he would not be applying for the position he has held since 1991 - effectively ending an 11-year association.

He said the club told him it would advertise for a new coach and he has declined to put in an application.

AUSTRALIA'S government and local Islamic leaders joined Thursday in rejecting comments by Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad that Australia is not safe for Muslims.

"Muslims are very safe in this country," said Kuranda Seyit, spokesman for the Australian Federation of Islamic Councils, in The Sydney Morning Herald newspaper. "Australia has been a very fair and tolerant society."

Mahathir on Tuesday criticized Canberra for a string of raids by security forces on the homes of Muslims believed to have links to the radical Islamic group Jemaah Islamiyah.

"At the moment Australia is particularly unsafe for Muslims because they are likely to have their houses raided, et cetera. I've seen pictures of doors being broken, which I don't think is essential," Mahathir said, at a summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations in Cambodia.

Immigration Minister Philip Ruddock defended the government's record.

"A sense of proportion makes it abundantly clear that Muslims are perfectly safe in Australia," Ruddock told Channel Seven.

He said the raids targeted "a dozen or so people" out of Australia's Islamic population of about 280,000.

The raids also caused outrage in Indonesia, with the country's acting ambassador to Australia Imron Cotan warning that they could jeopardize the joint investigation into the deadly Oct. 12 Bali bombings.

"I will not be surprised if the people of Indonesia ask us to stop cooperating with your police forces," he told Australian Broadcasting Corp.

But even as Australian Muslims condemned Mahathir's comments, they also repeated their criticisms of the armed raids, in which no one was arrested.

"I don't think the conduct of the raids has been fair." Seyit said. "There is no substantial evidence these people are connected to terrorist activities overseas."

PREMIER League sides Tottenham, Middlesbrough, Leeds and West Ham were knocked out in the third round of the League Cup overnight by non-Premier League clubs.

First-division Burnley upset Tottenham 2-1 and Ipswich, relegated from the Premier League after last season, hammered Middlesbrough 3-1. Tottenham was the finalist last season in the competition, losing to Blackburn.

Leeds' stumbling season continued as first-division Sheffield United scored twice in the final minutes for a 2-1 victory. The victory was followed by brief, ugly scenes as angry fans pulled wooden seats off their moorings and tossed them onto the pitch.

West Ham lost 1-0 to second-division Oldham as Carlo Corazzin got the winner in the 42nd minute.

Arsenal also bowed out of the competition, but did so against Premier League Sunderland 3-2. It was the first win at Sunderland for new coach Howard Wilkinson.

League Cup defending champion Blackburn edged through with a 5-4 victory on penalties over first-division Walsall. The match was tied 2-2 after 30 minutes of extra time.

Blackburn took a 1-0 lead late in the first half on Corrado Grabbi's penalty but Zigor Aranalde equalized on a penalty after 67. David Zdrilic gave Walsall a 2-1 lead in the 98th and Blackburn equalized on an Ian Roper own-goal in the 105th.

In another match between Premier League teams, Everton defeated Newcastle 3-2 on penalties after the match was tied 3-3 after regulation and 30 minutes of overtime.

Everton's Steve Watson forced extra time with an 85th-minute goal to make it 2-2. Kieron Dyer scored both goals for Newcastle in regulation. In extra time, Alessandro Pistone's own-goal gave Newcastle a 3-2 lead and David Unsworth equalized on a 112th-minute penalty.

Other Premier League sides picked up victories in play in England's No. 2 cup competition - often used as practice matches by England's top clubs.

Chelsea outclassed Gillingham of the first division 2-1. Fulham was an easy winner over third-division Bury 3-1.

Premier League leader Liverpool defeated Southampton 3-1 in a match between top-flight sides. Aston Villa also had an easy time with third-division Oxford, winning 3-0.

LEADING Melbourne trainer Tony McEvoy said yesterday he would scratch his 10 horses from today's VRC Oaks meeting at Flemington if the track was similar to the Melbourne Cup surface.

McEvoy said his Flemington stables resembled a hospital ward yesterday as all 11 of his runners at Tuesday's meeting had pulled up sore, some of them seriously, after racing on the hard surface.

"It's like the Royal Melbourne Hospital down here at the moment," he said. "I am not interested in putting my horses through that again. It might be the best time of the year to win a race but not at that cost."

McEvoy said his two-year-olds Danzadash and Silverstein, who finished at the tail of the field in the opening race on Tuesday, had cracked cannon bones and would need a long rest.

McEvoy said his Cup runners, Sandmason and Requiem, were very sore while Helene Vitality, who is trained by his boss, David Hayes, pulled up with a chip in a joint.

Fellow Flemington trainer David Hall said his Cup runner, Pentastic, who finished fifth, was sore but he was luckier than others.

Hall said he would walk the track and would be willing to scratch horses today and on Saturday who would not handle a hard track.

McEvoy said course managers should have a close look at horses who raced on the hard surface.

"I would personally invite curators to come down to the stable and have a look at the discomfort my horses are in and what they are putting the horses through," he said.

McEvoy said while he had a runner, Milanova, in today's Group 1 VRC Oaks, he would have no hesitation in scratching her.

"She was a $700,000 yearling with a wonderful international pedigree (by Danehill out of a Secretariat mare) and so I am not going to bust her," he said.

Racecourse manager Terry Watson said the forecast for rain and thunderstorms had meant no water had been put on the track on Monday night.

"It's not too hard to say what should have happened in hindsight but I don't have a crystal ball. We rely on the forecast and it was for rain and thunderstorms," he said.

"I would have preferred the track to be softer on Tuesday but if we had watered and the rain did come, it would mean that right in the middle of a drought we would have a wet track."

The VRC was granted permission to water overnight and Watson said in that time about 8mm could be put on the track. The penetrometer readings were 4.2 on Saturday and 3.8 on Tuesday.

Watson said he was hoping for a reading of at least 4.2 for today's meeting.

All the international horses in the Cup except for winner Media Puzzle and Jardines Lookout pulled up sore yesterday, though none were serious.

CATHY Freeman's husband Alexander Bodecker has been cleared of throat cancer, the 400m Sydney Olympic gold medalist said today.

Bodecker, a Nike executive based in Portland, Oregon, was diagnosed with cancer in May and has been undergoing treatment in Melbourne.

"We're obviously really happy with the news," Freeman said. "It has been a difficult time, particularly for Alexander, and we are happy that he's able to put it behind him.

"He will still require regular scans over the coming months and years, and with cancer there is always a risk of recurrence, however we are being told that they have successfully treated the cancer."

Bodecker and Freeman were married in 1999.

Freeman won 400m relay gold at the Commonwealth Games in Manchester, England in late July, her first major competition since taking an extended break from athletics after winning gold at Sydney in 2000.

She has said her next goal is the world championships next August in Paris, followed by the Athens Olympics in 2004.

MATTHEW Hayden and Ricky Ponting continued Australia's remarkable start to the Ashes series today against a hapless England at the Gabba.

At stumps on the first day, Australia was 1-364 in its first innings, with Hayden (186 not out) surging to his 10th Test century in a 272-run stand with Ponting (124).

Damien Martyn was 9 not out.

Australia looked comfortable from the outset after being sent in to bat by Nasser Hussain, maintaining a run rate of more than five runs per over before the largest crowd ever to watch the first day of a Gabba Test.

The crowd, which was already larger than the 22,516 spectators at the opening to the 1932-33 Bodyline Test, roared when hometown batsman Hayden reached his ton with a boundary from Ashley Giles.

It was Hayden's second consecutive century in a Gabba Test and his ninth in the last 21 months.

England's day had been disastrous, with paceman Simon Jones taken from the field on a stretcher after wrenching his right knee in a fielding mishap early in the second session.

The 23-year-old Welshman was taken to hospital for scans but the initial suggestions were that his tour could be over.

Jones was sliding to stop a drive from Ponting at long-on when his spikes jammed into the Gabba surface and he finished in agony five metres from the boundary.

It was almost the same spot where Jones held a catch from Hayden when the Queenslander had scored just 40 but he lost his balance, falling over the boundary rope after tossing the ball back into the field of play.

Jones had taken the only wicket to fall when he had Justin Langer (32) caught behind by Alec Stewart in the 15th over and that was the only moment of joy for England.

The tourists were dismal, bowling and fielding poorly.

Hayden was dropped on 102 by Matthew Hoggard after skying a drive to mid-off.

Ponting reached his half-century with a six over the long-off fence from left-arm spinner Ashley Giles (1-87) before hitting another six from the next delivery.

Giles finally made amends by bowling Ponting around the legs when Australia was 1-339.

England captain Nasser Hussain sent the home team into bat expecting better performances from his opening bowlers Andrew Caddick (0-71) and Hoggard (0-86). Craig White fared no better with 0-67.

England's campaign started poorly when Michael Vaughan misfielded at gully from the second ball of the match, allowing Langer to open the scoring with a single.

PRIME Minister John Howard was failing to engage with South-East Asia because he did not understand its strategic politics, former opposition leader Kim Beazley said today.

Mr Howard had also made the mistake of separating Australia from the region purely to score political points from Labor, he said.

Mr Beazley, now a backbencher, declined to comment directly on controversial comments this week by Labor's trade spokesman Craig Emerson that Mr Howard's trade policy was based on a personal dislike of Asians.

"I haven't seen Craig's comments and one of the great things about being a backbencher is that you don't make comments on your frontbenchers," Mr Beazley said.

"The reason why John Howard does not engage that way is twofold.

"Firstly he doesn't comprehend the geo-strategic politics of this region in a way a prime minister should. He doesn't have the understanding.

"The second is that he sought to separate himself from it basically to score a political point off the Labor Party."

Mr Beazley said the current coalition government was always looking for an opportunity to score points off Labor irrespective of the impact on Australian national security.

"There's no doubt at all that the collapse of government interest in South-East Asia ... was in part driven by an effort by this government to draw a distinction between itself and (former prime minister) Paul Keating.

"Once you get foreign policy into the gambit of narrow point-scoring in domestic politics, what you have is security disaster for the nation."

Mr Beazley said the Australian government had comprehensively dropped the ball on Asia in the past six years.

"Unless we change, our security interests and our material interests are going to be seriously and permanently damaged," he said.

DAVID LYONS has lost another round in his battle for fitness and has been ruled out of Australia's rugby Test against Ireland on Saturday.

Coach Eddie Jones had earmarked Lyons, who has earned nine of his 10 caps off the bench, to start the Landsdowne Road match as blindside flanker but the hip injury which kept him out of last week's win over Argentina has failed to respond to treatment as quickly as hoped.

Lyons is the fourth player ruled out this week by injury, following Ben Tune, Jeremy Paul and Mat Rogers, while prop Bill Young has returned home for the birth of his first child.

Jones hoped Lyons would be fit for next week's Test against England at Twickenham.

On the positive side, however, Jones was confident that bruising forward Owen Finegan and fullback Matt Burke would be fit to take on the Irish.

"Owen needs to complete Thursday's training to be available to play Ireland which hopefullly he will," Jones said.

"We're confident he will be right."

Burke should have recovered from a badly corked thigh in time to train fully tomorrow and move from outside centre to replace Rogers at fullback.

Rogers' fate was still unclear after damaging rib cartilage against Argentina but Jones was more hopeful of hooker Paul recovering from his hamstring injury for the England match.

"We're hopeful Jeremy will be right for the England game," Jones said.

"Rogers has been up and down, the next 36 to 48 hours will give us an indication of whether he'll be fit to play against England."

Despite the raft of injuries, Jones was happy with the squad's freshness, in contrast to last season's European tour in which Australia lost to England and France at the end of a long and gruelling year.

"There's a different feel within the team from last year," he said.

"Certainly last year we were pretty mentally and physically jaded. We won't be looking at any sort of fatigue as being an excuse for our performance on tour.

"We're in pretty good fettle, albeit for a few injuries."

A BAN on smoking in pubs, clubs and casinos would only cost jobs, the Australian Hotels Association (AHA) said today.

The AHA today rejected calls from the hotel workers' union and the National Occupational Health and Safety Commission for the smoking ban.

AHA deputy director Andrew Wilsmore said a blanket ban on smoking would have a detrimental effect on the hotel industry.

"It would undoubtedly reduce employment in the hospitality sector," he said.

Earlier this week unions and health organisations joined forces for a new campaign to ban smoking in Australian pubs, clubs and casinos by 2003.

The ACTU, NSW Cancer Council, Action on Smoking and Health (ASH), Liquor, Hospitality Miscellaneous Workers Union (LHMU) and Musicians Union of Australia are pushing for State health ministers to take action on the issue.

However, the Victorian ALP has said it will ditch plans to ban smoking in pubs and bars if re-elected on November 30.

Mr Wilsmore said in Victoria, where smoking has been banned in gaming venues, revenue has dropped by 20 per cent.

"This inevitably costs jobs," he said.

"The fact is that workers do not support measures that will severely reduce levels of employment in the industry."

He said the hospitality industry had already taken steps to minimise exposure of employees to tobacco smoke.

"Co-operation between employers and employees to develop solutions to these issues is the answer," he said.

"A blanket ban would be detrimental to all concerned."

LLEYTON HEWITT will need all of his renowned fighting spirit to retain the Champions Race title after being dealt a horror draw for next week's Tennis Masters Cup in Shanghai.

World No.1 Hewitt could scarcely have fared worse, being drawn in a four-man pool with Marat Safin, who thrashed him in last Saturday's Paris Masters final, and his Spanish nemesis Carlos Moya.

French Open champion Albert Costa rounds out the Red Group for the round robin phase of the $A6.6 million eight-man season-ending tournament.

The rugged Costa is probably the only one his opponents Hewitt feels comfortable playing.

Holding an 88-point lead over Andre Agassi in the 2002 ATP Champions Race, Hewitt is in the driver's seat to retain the crown he won at the Masters Cup in Sydney last year.

But he would have hoped to avoid Safin and Moya - the only two men in the boasting a winning head-to-head record against him - until the semi-final stage.

The unpredictable but richly-talented Safin is 4-3 in career meetings with Hewitt and has demolished the Wimbledon champion in their past two encounters.

Third-placed Safin has dropped just 14 games against Hewitt in their last five sets and, ominously, the decisive Shanghai event will be held indoors, as was the Paris Masters and the 2000 Masters Cup in Portugal, where Safin also dismissed Hewitt in straight sets.

Hewitt's record against fifth-placed Moya is similarly worrying.

He is 2-4 in career meetings against the former French Open champion and one-time world No.1 and has lost their last three clashes this year - without having won a set.

Hewitt has beaten Costa in four of their five encounters.

Agassi, Hewitt's only remaining challenger in this year's Champions Race, would be delighted with his Shanghai draw, playing in the Gold Group with two players he has never lost to.

In the simplest of several scenarios for Agassi, the 32-year-old American needs to win the tournament and hope Hewitt doesn't make the final in order to attain the year-end No.1 ranking for a second time.

He achieved the feat in 1999 and would give himself a good show again after drawing sixth-placed Roger Federer (3-0) and seventh-placed Jiri Novak (4-0) and fourth-placed Juan-Carlos Ferrero.

Agassi is 1-1 with Ferrero, but comfortably accounted for the Spaniard for the loss of only five games to win the Madrid Masters indoors three weeks ago.

SCUFFLES broke out outside a Canberra courthouse today between two Aboriginal groups fighting over the future of the Aboriginal tent embassy.

The confrontations among about 12 people occurred as the incumbent tent embassy group seeks to prevent its opponents from clearing away a sprawling camp site at the embassy, across the road from Old Parliament House.

Inside the Supreme Court, Justice Ken Crispin rejected an application by the tent embassy group to extend an injunction against clearing paraphernalia which has accumulated at the site.

The injunction was replaced by an undertaking by rival Ngunnawal elder and regional ATSIC representative Matilda House that she and her group refrain from injuring people or damaging property at the embassy.

The tent embassy group, represented by Jeanette Kay Phillips, Wadjularbinna Nulyarimma, Ruth Bell, Donald Bell and Neville Williams, was granted leave to apply for a further hearing on the issue.

In a heated confrontation last Thursday, local Ngunnawal people led by Ms House burned some structures and tried to clear away items with a tip truck and skips provided by the National Capital Authority.

A week-long injunction was won in the Supreme Court to prevent further clearing.

Tent embassy spokeswoman Isobel Coe yesterday appealed for peace and calm over the issue.

She said the reasons for the construction of the original tent embassy, now two shacks protected by heritage laws, were still relevant today with low life expectancy, poverty and high incarceration rates still prevalent.

The sprawling, messy site represented the conditions endured by many Aboriginal people around Australia, she said.

The Ngunnawal group believes the tent embassy has lost its way since its early days as a centre for Aboriginal activism and is now an eyesore.

INDONESIA'S acting ambassador Imron Cotan has warned fallout in Indonesia from last week's raids in search of information on Jemaah Islamiah could jeopardise the Bali bombing investigation.

The raids in Sydney, Melbourne and Perth targeted those believed to have some connection to Jemaah Islamiah, the listed terrorist organisation accused of involvement in the Bali bombings.

They sparked official complaints to Australia as many of the homes raided belonged to Indonesian citizens or people originally from Indonesia.

Mr Cotan warned that the Indonesian government had to take account of the public anger the raids had aroused.

And that could have an impact on the joint investigation into the Bali bombings which killed more than 180 people including up to 88 Australians.

"I will not be surprised if one day the Indonesian people will turn their attention to your police forces operating in Bali because the (raids) were conducted by the federal police as well as ASIO," Mr Cotan told ABC television.

"I will not be surprised if the people of Indonesia ask us to stop cooperating with your police forces."

Concern over the raids was coming directly from Foreign Minister Hassan Wirayuda. Mr Cotan has just returned from Jakarta where he has been briefing Mr Wirayuda on the raids.

Mr Cotan also said he had been told in July by ASIO chief Dennis Richardson that there were no sleeper cells of Jemaah Islamiah in Australia.

He also ruled out a suggestion last month from Defence Minister Robert Hill that it might be possible for Australian and Indonesian elite soldiers to conduct anti-terrorism action in Indonesia like US soldiers were doing in the Philippines.

A VIDEO tape of an incident at a detention centre where detainees were allegedly beaten by guards would not be publicly released, Immigration Minister Philip Ruddock said today.

Asylum seekers in the Baxter facility in South Australia alleged they were savagely beaten by guards in full riot gear last week after a detainee, who was denied medical help, broke a window in frustration.

Mr Ruddock said the tape would be given to the Commonwealth Ombudsman who was investigating the allegations.

However, he said it could not be publicly released as it would breach the detainees' privacy.

Mr Ruddock said two of the detainees who made the allegations had acted violently.

"The two detainees broke tables, threw food around (and) behaved in ways that are quite unacceptable," he said.

"The first because he claimed he wasn't immediately treated by a nurse for a condition ... because the nurse was treating someone else at the time.

"The second was by a detainee who had been the subject of an apprehended violence order by a spouse who was detained elsewhere in the detention centre where there was an order preventing him from being able to access her and he sort to put pressure on us to provide that access."

However, Independent Committee for Refugee Advocacy president Marion Le yesterday said detainees were sworn at by guards, denied access to visitors, families were split up and a gym instructor was sacked after she refused to beat a detainee.

Ms Le said Baxter had replaced Woomera as the hell hole of Australia.

THE State Department warned today that the scheduled execution of a Pakistani man in Virginia next week "may trigger retaliatory attacks against American interests overseas."

A "worldwide caution" issued by the department said US citizens need to be vigilant and to be aware of the "continuing threat of terrorist actions that may target civilians."

Mir Aimal Kasi is to be executed on November 14 for killing two CIA employees and wounding three others outside CIA headquarters in January 1993. US authorities snatched Kasi in July 1997 from a hotel in Pakistan after a four-year manhunt.

Separately, the FBI issued a bulletin warning of possible terrorist attacks being carried out during the holy month of Ramadan, which runs through to December 5.

"Al-Qaida and sympathetic jihadists may view Ramadan as having religious incentives and symbolic and operational advantages for conducting terrorist attacks," the bulletin said. The FBI also cited unspecified intelligence indicating al-Qaida may be planning a strike this Ramadan.

Some lower-level al-Qaida operatives may be more likely to time attacks to symbolic dates and events, the FBI said, citing recent attacks in Yemen, Kuwait, the Philippines and Indonesia.

The State Department bulletin said the potential exists for "retaliatory acts against US or other foreign interests in response to the execution."

It also reiterated warnings contained in similar statements issued in recent months urging Americans to take precautionary measures.

It said the US government continues to receive credible indications that extremist groups and individuals are planning additional terrorist actions against US interests.

"Such actions may include, but are not limited to, suicide operations," it said.

Because security and security awareness have been elevated within the United States, the terrorists may target US interests overseas, it added.

The statement also reaffirmed that terrorist groups do not distinguish between official and civilian targets.

Despite the new warnings, the FBI said the national terror alert advisory will remain at the yellow level. The color-coded system ranks threats by colors, starting at the bottom with green and followed by blue, yellow, orange and red as perceived dangers intensify.

THE unemployment rate dropped to 6 per cent today but almost 60,000 full-time jobs disappeared from the economy in October, official figures showed today.

Allowing for seasonal factors, total employment grew 15,800 to 9.36 million, the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) said.

Full-time jobs plunged 59,900 while part-time employment jumped by 75,700, the ABS said.

The unemployment rate was at its lowest level since October 2000, and only the third time it has been at six per cent since April 1990.

The participation rate - the percentage of people over 15 working or looking for work - slipped to 63.4 per cent in October, suggesting more people were giving up the search for work.

In fact, the number of people registered as looking for work fell 18,500 to 598,600, also the lowest level since October 2000.

A MAN had admitted taking part in the bombing of two Bali bars which killed 190 people, police said last night.

Indonesian police chief Da'i Bachtiar said the man, identified only as Amrozi, had told police he owned the minivan used in the car-bomb attack.

"Amrozi used the car to carry out the bombing in Bali," Mr Bachtiar said. "He has disclosed many things and admitted his acts in Bali. We are chasing his friends."

Brig-Gen. Edward Aritonang, spokesman for a team of investigators, said Mr Amrozi was arrested in East Java on Tuesday and flown to Bali.

According to a local television report, Mr Amrozi was arrested at an Islamic boarding school in the town of Tenggulun.

The head of the school, Dzakaria, said in a television interview that Mr Amrozi had attended a speech at the school by radical Islamic cleric Abu Bakar Bashir.

No group has claimed responsibility for the blasts but terrorist organisation Jemaah Islamiyah has emerged as the prime suspect. Police recently detained Mr Bashir, Jemaah Islamiyah's alleged spiritual leader, but he had not been declared a suspect in the Bali blasts.

Mr Bashir, 64, who is in a police hospital in Jakarta, has refused to cooperate with police.

Mr Dzakaria said Mr Amrozi worked in Malaysia in the 1990s when Mr Bashir was living there in exile during the dictatorship of former Indonesian strongman Suharto.

But it remained unclear whether the two men met in Malaysia.

Australian security agencies have raided homes across Australia of people believed to have attended lectures by Mr Bashir.

Police have said the main bombing in the October 12 attack - made with 50kg to 100kg of explosive - was placed inside a Mitsubishi L300 minivan that was parked in front of the Sari club.

The Asian Wall Street Journal reported that al-Qaida's top South-East Asian operative, Hambali, planned the bombing from southern Thailand this year.

The paper said Hambali urged Arab and South-East Asian militants at a January meeting to attack nightclubs and restaurants.

THE United States and France reached agreement on a new Security Council resolution on Iraq, removing a key hurdle toward passage of the US-drafted plan for tough new weapons inspections.

A vote on the resolution was scheduled for tonight.

Confident of winning approval, the United States revised its final document to get Russia and others on board and send a united message to Iraqi President Saddam Hussein. US President George W. Bush had pushed for tonight's vote, calling Saddam "a real threat" and declaring that "it's now time for the world to come together and disarm him."

According to French diplomats, the United States agreed to change the wording in a key provision that would declare Iraq in "material breach" of its UN obligations.

The change addresses concerns by France, Russia, Syria and others that the original wording would have let the United States determine on its own whether Iraq had committed an infraction. Such a determination, France and Russia feared, would have triggered an attack on Saddam.

China's deputy UN ambassador Zhang Yishan, the current Security Council president, said overnight that the 15 members were "getting closer" to agreement and if negotiations continue on their current track "the sunlight of unity is about to come."

The United States introduced the revised resolution overnight to try to address concerns of council members, said Richard Grenell, spokesman for US Ambassador John Negroponte.

The world body's chief weapons inspector, Hans Blix, said he's confident his team will be back in Iraq soon, after a nearly four-year absence, and said a resolution supported by all 15 council members "strengthens our hand."

At the White House, Bush was clearly prepared for victory. Twice during a wide-ranging news conference, the president referred to passage as an issue of "when," rather than "if."

"When this resolution passes, I will be able to say that the United Nations has recognized the threat and now we're going to work together to disarm him," Bush said. "And he must be cooperative in the disarmament."

In Iraq, the government-controlled media called the draft resolution a pretext for war and urged the Security Council not to bow to American demands.

"America wants to use this resolution as a pretext and a cover for its aggression on Iraq and the whole Arab nation," the ruling Baath Party newspaper Al-Thawra said. "The Security Council should not give (the Americans) a pretext and a cover for the coming aggression."

According to a strict timeline in the resolution, Iraq would have seven days to accept the resolution's terms. Blix has said an advance team of inspectors would be on the ground within 10 days.

Inspectors would have up to 45 days to actually begin work, and must report to the council 60 days later on Iraq's performance. In the meantime, any Iraqi obstructions or noncompliance would be reported immediately to the council for assessment.

At the same time, it offers Iraq the possibility of lifting a decade of crippling sanctions if it complies fully with its obligations.


OPPOSITION Leader Simon Crean rebuked frontbencher Craig Emerson today telling him to concentrate on his job as trade spokesman.

The move came after Dr Emerson accused Prime Minister John Howard of not liking Asians and after Dr Emerson distributed a discussion paper about Labor's problems to sell its message.

Mr Crean said he had spoken privately to Dr Emerson today.

"I have spoken to him privately this morning," Mr Crean told Sydney radio 2GB.

"I was forceful with him. I'm going to sit down face to face with him as well.

"I've told him his job is demonstrating the government's failing on trade and industry policy, and putting forward Labor's alternative."

Asked if he would agree that Mr Howard did not like Asians, Mr Crean said: "No, I wouldn't accuse him of that.

"But I do think the government has dropped the ball on trade."

Mr Crean said he had told Dr Emerson to concentrate on trade issues.

He said Dr Emerson should have known the way his discussion paper would be portrayed by newspapers.

Mr Crean also called on the rest of the shadow Cabinet for a better performance.

He said his frontbench was aware he wanted a team effort.

"They also will be left in no doubt that I want the show functioning effectively as a team," he said.

"We have some great people on the frontbench and some of them have been doing a terrific job. I want more to contribute to that."

Mr Crean said the government was vulnerable on a range of issues.

But the public was focused on issues related to terrorism, making it difficult to discuss domestic issues in depth.

"It's difficult to get a message on domestic issues up at the moment when there's a lot of preoccupation with Bali and terrorism and ASIO raids and all those sorts of things," he said.

"But we will get the clear air, and when we've got that clear air we've got to keep hammering home the differences."


AUSTRALIA'S biggest bank, National Australia Bank, has delivered a $3.379 billion profit for the year to September 30 - sparking renewed calls by consumer and union groups for banks to be reined in.

The State Government stopped short of supporting a call for regulation while urging cheaper fees for small businesses.

The bank's profit was up 62 per cent on last year's $2.088 billion but down on market expectations of $4 billion.

The massive profit follows a $2.19 billion profit by Westpac last week and $2.32 billion from ANZ last month.

NAB holds 17.5 per cent of all home mortgages in Australia, lends to one in three farmers and has almost eight million banking customers around the world, including Ireland and Britain.

The Australian Consumers' Association said National Australia was one of the worst of the big four banks and its profit was the best example of the need for government regulation.

Its retail banking profit, which included personal and small business accounts, jumped 23 per cent in the year.

"NAB customers are paying some of the highest and most unfair fees," association finance policy officer Catherine Wolthuizen said. "The Australian Government is letting them get away with that."

Ms Wolthuizen also criticised the ANZ, which raised the annual fees on its Qantas and Telstra Visa cards a week after announcing its massive profit. She said the cards already had high interest rates.

The Finance Sector Union said it was staggered and angry at the NAB profit especially in the face of its announcement early this year of 2000 job cuts and 56 branch closures.

WA Small Business Minister Clive Brown said the banking industry had to reduce fees charged to small businesses.

He said small business fees rose 18 per cent in 2001 and the small operators were charged disproportionately higher fees compared with big business.

Mr Brown said the question of Federal Government regulation was an option if the banking industry did not act.

NAB spokeswoman Majella Allen said 50 per cent of the bank's profits came from its overseas ventures and the profits reflected the bank's success.

The Australian Bankers' Association said banks were not driving increasing profits through fees on personal day-to-day transactions. Only one per cent of bank revenue came from these fees.

AUSTRALIANS are having fewer children, with the birthrate reaching its lowest level last year.

Figures issued today by the Australian Bureau of Statistics show the nation's birthrate reached its lowest point in 2001, sinking to 1.73 babies per woman - less than half the 3.5 figure recorded in 1961 at the height of the baby boom.

And women are putting off motherhood longer. For the first time the average age of Australian mothers who gave birth last year was 30. The average age for the fathers was 32.3, also the highest recorded. The average age of first-time mothers and fathers was not recorded.

WA recorded the biggest drop in births - down 4 per cent last year from 2000 - but its overall birth rate remained slightly higher than the national average at 1.75 per woman.

This is because the State has a high proportion of Aboriginals, whose average birthrate is 2.14 children per woman.

Australia's falling birthrate is part of a worldwide trend of smaller families in developed countries - all of which have birthrates of fewer than two per woman.

Australia has a higher fertility rate than Germany (1.3), Greece (1.2), Canada (1.6) and Japan (1.3) but is lower than France (1.8) and the United States (1.9).

University of WA professor Reg Appleyard, a demographer in the Graduate School of Management, said the decline could be put down to changing social attitudes and the ease of planning a family for modern parents.

"I think most of the baby-boom generation have an attitude that does not encourage more than two or three children," he said.

"People have other things they want to do in life and if they want to limit themselves to one child it is very easy to do so. It is also so darned expensive to raise kids."

He said there was no magic solution to low birthrates, though he believed that initiatives such as paid maternity leave might encourage some women to become mothers.

Australia's falling birthrate has long-term implications for the size and average age of Australia's population. According to a CSIRO report issued today, if the existing birthrate and rate of immigration continue, Australia's population will stabilise at 25 million about 2050.

But the population will begin to fall in the early part of the next century if Australia records zero-net immigration.

Professor Appleyard said immigration could be a short-term cure for population decline but did not solve the problem of an ageing population.

"Immigrants age as well and increasing migration does not have the same effect that raising fertility does," he said. The population in 2050 would have a higher average age and fewer children.

Although this could mean low unemployment, Federal Minister for Ageing Kevin Andrews called recently for Australians to stay in the workforce longer in order to avoid a situation where a small number of workers were supporting a big body of retirees.

The worldwide birthrate rate also has dropped dramatically, from 3.9 children per woman in 1980 to 2.7 today.

Gift brings new view of timing

FOR Jackie Rebeiro, new life began at 40.

The Yokine mother gave birth to daughter Imogen - who she describes as her first and last child - four months ago.

She is among a growing band of Australian women waiting longer for motherhood.

Ms Rebeiro said her daughter could be described as an accident or a gift from God, depending on how one looked at it.

"I had not planned it," she said. "I was starting to let go of the whole idea of having a child when I found out I was pregnant."

She and her partner had been in a casual relationship and not living together.

Ms Rebeiro said she had always wanted a child but it had never seemed the right time.

"There's an emphasis on perfection," she said. "Part of the picture is you want to have the right man, the right career and all these ideal things before you do it."

Ms Rebeiro said it was difficult looking after a child on her own at times but she had support from her partner, friends and family.

"But I had no idea how much of a real problem sleep deprivation is," she said.

She felt a sense of fear when she first got the news of her pregnancy but that soon changed to a great sense of purpose.

"I realised that this was life happening and it was time to grab the reins and go for it," she said.

THE Federal Court has ordered the Cole royal commission to pay up to $20,000 in legal costs to a WA union official who challenged the commission's powers.

The commission had accused the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union of obtaining confidential witness statements and using them to intimidate the witnesses.

It served an official notice to union organiser Kevin Ennor, demanding he produce documents that would reveal how he got the statements, under threat of imprisonment. But after a legal challenge, the commission withdrew the notice, and yesterday agreed to pay Mr Ennor's costs half an hour before the matter was due to be heard in the Federal Court.

Mr Ennor's legal team argued that the commission had been unlawfully attempting to use its coercive powers. The commission did not admit liability but nevertheless dropped the action and paid its opponent's legal costs.

In August, the royal commission's senior counsel, John Agius, claimed that building contractors who had provided statutory declarations about union heavying at a Burswood construction site had been approached by CFMEU representatives who had copies of their statements. The approaches were allegedly made before their evidence was tendered.

CFMEU secretary Kevin Reynolds said the union's lawyers had given the statements to the union, and they had done nothing wrong in doing so. He would not comment on how the statements were used by the union, except that "we did nothing wrong".

He said it was another example of the royal commission witch-hunting unions.

"How much taxpayers' money have they spent chasing people up alleys going nowhere?" he said.

The cost to taxpayers of the pointless action would have been more than $40,000, he said.

But the main game would be on December 6, when Commissioner Cole released his report, Mr Reynolds said.

The commissioner did not comment on yesterday's decision to settle the case and pay the costs.

But The West Australian understands the decision was made to save the further expense of a court hearing at a time when the commissioner has finished the hearings and is preparing his final report.

He does not plan to refer the case to either the Director of Public Prosecutions or police.

A TEENAGE car thief who crashed a stolen car and left another driver with head injuries and a ruptured spleen has been jailed for two years and three months.

The thief, now 18, cannot be named because he was 17 at the time of the crash.

Judge Kate O'Brien said the thief had a long criminal history.

"I must take into account the prevalence of these sorts of offences of stealing cars and driving them recklessly and dangerously," she said.

"Offences such as these contribute to the horrific road toll and carnage on the roads and that is why a sentence which acts as a deterrent, not only to the particular offender but generally, must be imposed."

Perth Children's Court was told that the youth stole the car from a Claremont carpark on February 20.

Police spotted him in Booragoon but he outran them by driving through a red light.

He collided with another car while driving on the wrong side of the road.

Police said the driver of the other car also had liver damage and cuts. He still suffered memory loss and was suffering financially because of the crash.

The youth ran from the crash and bragged to friends that he had been in a car accident and "made this guy piss", police prosecutor Sgt Harry Wiltschut said.

The youth pleaded guilty to stealing a motor vehicle and driving it dangerously, dangerous driving causing grievous bodily harm, refusing to stop for police, driving without a licence, failing to render assistance after an accident, failing to report an accident and failing to stop after an accident.

He also pleaded guilty to other charges after stealing a car and a motorcycle. The court was told that the youth had already lost his licence for life.

He had been a heavy drug user and had started committing crimes at age 13.

"The protection of the community is something that I must regard very seriously, particularly when I have regard to this man's previous record," Judge O'Brien said.

"His record of offending in a similar way causes me to form the opinion that he remains a risk of reoffending even when he is released."

Judge O'Brien suggested the youth receive psychological counselling while in jail.

He will serve his time in an adult prison.

THE royal commission is to investigate the police hierarchy's treatment of Kennedy inquiry witness Det-Sgt Jo Connoley.

Senior counsel assisting, Peter Hastings QC, has written to Police Commissioner Barry Matthews seeking a report on the service's handling of Sgt Connoley.

Under the heading of victimisation, the Royal Commission (Police) Act 2002 says, in part, that a person who prejudices, or threatens to prejudice, the safety or career of another person because they have assisted the commission or have furnished information to the commission faces a penalty of five years jail and a $100,000 fine.

Earlier this week, Sgt Connoley's lawyer, John Hammond, claimed that the former child abuse unit detective was being hounded and bullied by senior officers because she gave a police file to the commission. A superior officer had ordered Sgt Connoley to attend counselling because she allegedly breached police protocol by handing over the file to the commission.

Mr Hammond said the officer threatened to "roll up" on her doorstep if she did not report for counselling.

The file related to Operation Cathedral, which targeted an international paedophile ring.

Sgt Connoley, who has been on stress leave for about two months, gave evidence to the commission in September when it was alleged that Deputy Commissioner Bruce Brennan and Supt David Caporn interfered in a sex abuse inquiry involving a sports celebrity in 1998.

During his appearance at the commission on September 16, it was put to Supt Caporn that he was more committed to reviewing the sports star sex case than he was in getting across Operation Cathedral, the unit's biggest case in 1998.

Operation Cathedral involved 105 search warrants being executed in 13 countries but Supt Caporn said it was a judgment call as to whether it was the child abuse unit's most important case.

After hearing from another witness on September 16, the commission adjourned.

Within six hours, the head of the police service's royal commission unit, Supt Mick Emmanuel, sent an email to the inquiry's counsel assisting, Ken Pettit SC, asking who was responsible for producing the document.

Mr Hammond, who welcomed the commission's pursuit of the matter, said yesterday the investigation was important in light of the undue attention Sgt Connoley had received.

"Had she not gone to the royal commission, all of the issues Sgt Connoley has had to deal with over the past three to four months would not have occurred," he said.

During an interview on 6PR yesterday, Mr Matthews said the proposed counselling of Sgt Connoley was not disciplinary action. "There is certainly no intention to hound her," he said.

ONE of the most complex and controversial cases in WA police history - the Argyle diamonds inquiry - may be just too big for the Kennedy royal commission to handle.

An unknown quantity of diamonds worth millions of dollars disappeared from the Argyle mine near Kununurra over a period of years from the late 1980s to the early 1990s. The last criminal prosecution ended with the jailing of Lindsay Roddan in 1996.

There have been investigations, inquiries, reports and even reviews of the reports - but the loose ends have never been tied up, all the rumours have never been quashed and all the answers have never been found.

Some people believe the Argyle case is perfect for a royal commission inquiring into police corruption because of allegations that high-ranking officers were bribed to ensure that investigations by junior officers were written off.

But with the royal commission now more than four months into hearings and its final report due by August next year, there is no certainty that Argyle will get a guernsey because of a lack of time and resources.

It is a situation that troubles Opposition justice spokeswoman Sue Walker, who intends to write to the royal commission to determine what the problems are.

In a previous life, Ms Walker was the junior prosecuting counsel at Mr Roddan's District Court trial.

She told The West Australian:"I have been contacted by police officers and others involved in the Argyle inquiry.

"They have been told by officers of the royal commission that Argyle is only one issue fighting for limited time and resources and that it could not be tackled in its entirety. Argyle needs to be high on its list of priorities. "The WA public needs to know that this Government is committed and sincere in pursuing police corruption. I want to know if the royal commission has the resources to do the job properly and, if not, why not."

Former detective-sergeant Robin Thoy, now retired, who headed the first Argyle inquiry in 1990, said yesterday: "I think Argyle is just too big for the royal commission.

"I have been told the commission is looking at some part of it which has not been investigated before."

ENGLAND began a spirited fightback against Australia today with the key wicket of Matthew Hayden on the second morning of the Ashes series at the Gabba.

At lunch on the second day of the first Test, Australia was 6-429 in its first innings, losing 4-65 in today's opening session.

Hayden (197) was the first batsman out from the 17th ball of the day, gloving Andrew Caddick (2-97) to wicketkeeper Alec Stewart after a scratchy start to the second day.

Damien Martyn (26) and Adam Gilchrist (zero) followed in the second hour, either side of a shaky innings from captain Stephen Waugh (seven from 37 balls).

Waugh will have to do better this summer than his 71-minute stay which ended when he was given out caught at short leg gully by John Crawley from the bowling of Caddick, who was far better today than his mediocre performance yesterday.

England looked rejuvenated and played with a purpose, proving its determination when paceman Matthew Hoggard fired a throw back at Hayden during a follow-through in the second over.

Hayden, who never left his crease after punching a delivery back to Hoggard, wore the throw on his right leg without receiving an apology from the fiery right-armer.

All-rounder Craig White (2-81) claimed the wickets of Martyn and Gilchrist, who sent the Barmy Army into raptures when he sliced a catch to Ashley Giles at gully from the second ball he faced.

White featured in a rare moment when he bowled to brother-in-law Darren Lehmann, who was playing his first Test in almost four years.

Lehmann, who is married to White's sister, survived for a steady 16 not out while Shane Warne (10 not out) added some late punch before the break.

Warne was given not out on one after a spontaneous England appeal for a catch behind off Caddick.

CHAMPION galloper Northerly will have an unscheduled workout tomorrow and his trainer Fred Kersley has not ruled out a start in the Fruit 'N' Veg Stakes at Ascot on December 7.

The Melbourne spring carnival star, flown home to Perth last week, would be suited by weight-for-age conditions in the $300,000 race over 1800m.

Northerly will gallop 800m at 3.40pm tomorrow, between the fifth and six races at Ascot's Lee-Steere Stakes meeting. He was to have paraded in the mounting yard, but Kersley applied yesterday to gallop the recent Caulfield Cup and Cox Plate winner.

He said the powerful bay, unbeaten in five starts since September 7, had thrived since returning to his Forrestdale stable.

"We're keeping our options open," Kersley said. "It has not been ruled out that Northerly will race in the Fruit 'N' Veg Stakes before he is rested."

Northerly will spell in the South-West until he resumes training early next year.

Kersley said yesterday that connections had decided against racing Northerly in Japan and Hong Kong this season.

"Dubai and Singapore are our preferred overseas destinations with him," Kersley said. "But first he will race at Melbourne's carnival next autumn."

Northerly's weight-for-age allotment in the Fruit 'N' Veg would be 58kg.

He carried 58kg when winning the Caulfield Cup (2400m) under handicap conditions on October 19 and two weeks ago won his second straight Cox Plate (2040m) at Moonee Valley.

"If connections decide to race Northerly in the Fruit 'N' Veg Stakes, it will be a promoter's dream," WATC racing manager Greg Carpenter said. "He is entered for the event and our hopes of a start soared when Fred asked to gallop the horse rather than parade him. He will canter with stablemate King Jugah and then gallop 800m."

Perth jockey Patrick Carbery, a winner of four WA races on Northerly, will ride him tomorrow.

The gelding, a winner at 12 of 16 Melbourne starts, was a $4.1 million stake-earner in September and last month.

Northerly, who has won 17 races and earned prize money of $7.8 million in his 27-start career, is second to retired star Sunline ($11.3 million) on the Australasian racing prize money list.

Kersley first took Northerly to Melbourne early last year and he won the Carlyon Cup at Caulfield in his Eastern States debut.

He won the 2001 Australian Cup at Flemington, then the Feehan Stakes, Underwood Stakes, Yalumba Stakes and Cox Plate after returning to Victoria last spring.

The St George Stakes was won by Northerly at Caulfield last February. Leading up to last month's Caulfield Cup and Cox Plate, he won the Craiglee, Underwood and Turnbull Stakes.


NICO TORIRI vows he will give WA's high-profile boxer Danny Green a run for his money tomorrow night.

Toriri, who has won 25 of his 42 contests with three draws since turning professional in 1988, is adamant that all of his losses on points were because of home-town decisions.

"My record should be better," he said yesterday.

The 36-year-old Indonesian professional boxer will challenge Green for his Pan Pacific IBF super-middleweight title at Challenge Stadium.

Toriri, the Indonesian middleweight champion, expects a tough contest. "I can't say who will win, or who will lose," he said. "But I will make it a good fight.

"I have heard a lot about Danny Green, as he is a good boxer and a hard fighter with a good punch. But I will try my best. I am very experienced."

After starting boxing in 1985, Toriri represented Indonesia in several annual tournaments and despite his age, he has no plans for retirement. "While I am a champion, I will continue to box," he said.

Indonesia's international match maker and Asia-Pacific vice-president of the World Boxing Organisation, Willy Lasut, is convinced Toriri will be Green's toughest opponent. "Nico is very strong," Lasut said.

"I have taken him twice to Japan, twice to Hawaii and once to Sydney. He always fights well."

Green, who has won all his 13 professional contests by knockout, hopes to further advance his boxing knowledge in the bout. "He is a very tough campaigner and has been among the best in the world," Green said.

"I am looking for some hard rounds.

"I want to learn to relax more and put combinations together.

"I am so excited about fighting in Perth for the first time as a professional.

"The reception I have received here is great. I would like to return here for a bout against a world-rated fighter."

Green last fought in Perth as an amateur in March 2000, in a warm-up contest for the Sydney Olympics before becoming the only WA boxer to win a bout at an Olympics.

Tomorrow's program will feature three amateur and five professional bouts, with the action starting at 7pm.

WHEN will the violet crumble?

Two more victories and the purple-clad Sydney Kings will equal the club's all-time winning streak of nine.

To attain that achievement, however, the Kings must first overcome the challenge of the National Basketball League season's other big surprise, the Perth Wildcats, in tonight's top-of-the-table encounter at Challenge Stadium.

Unbeaten Sydney is the most un-King-like of teams, showing not the slightest hint of the customary collapse which, in the past 10 years, earned it the cruel, but accurate, Crumbles nickname.

Under coach Brian Goorjian, the Kings have showed impressive resolve at the defensive end.

But, strangely for a Goorjian-coached team, the offence yields a bumper crop night after night.

Sydney is not just dishing out defeats; it is absolutely flogging its opponents, with an average winning margin of 19 points.

Contrast that with the second-placed Wildcats, whose game is the basketball equivalent of Melbourne weather: four seasons, not in one day, but just 48 minutes.

The consequence is that they have, in all but one game, left it until the final 90 seconds to eke out a victory. The average margin in their games is just - stop biting those nails! - three points.

Perth has dodged more bullets than Dirty Harry and the season is not even a quarter of the way through. The important thing from coach Alan Black's viewpoint is that the team keeps finding a way to win, an attribute which could be crucial if centre Brett Wheeler is unable to play because of a groin injury which was not expected to be a problem but has not responded to treatment during the week.

"We're preparing as if he won't be there," Black said. "We won't know for sure until game day."

Should Wheeler be on the bench in long pants rather than on the court in shorts, the onus will be on young centre Matt Burston to rise to the occasion as he has done several times already and lead his team on the backboards.

Tonight will be James Harvey's 100th game. Perth's sharp shooter is averaging 14 points per game and, as his fitness improves after a long lay-off, his influence can be expected to grow.

The onus will be on defence rather than scoring tonight. Perth playmaker Ricky Grace is likely to prefer a slow tempo to minimise Sydney's athleticism and reduce the number of shots launched, particularly as the Kings lead the league in scoring, field goal percentage and three-point accuracy.

When Goorjian arrived in Sydney in the middle of the year to take over a team which had underachieved on and off the court, he knew what changes to make.

"I knew scoring wouldn't be a problem," the coach said.

"We just needed to be smarter. The Kings weren't much good at moving the ball and using the shot clock."

He made the necessary adjustments, established some rules and defined each player's role.

Team chemistry and results since have been impressive.


Simon Dwight is on the verge of entering the NBL record books and says he will be honoured to surpass one of his all-time heroes in doing so.

The West Sydney Razorbacks forward lies just one blocked shot shy of the league record of 788 set by the Wildcats' James Crawford.

If Dwight blocks at least two shots against Brisbane on Sunday, he will have broken the record in a stunning 238 games - 285 fewer than Crawford.


Other games - Tonight: Wollongong v Victoria, Melbourne v Adelaide. Tomorrow: Canberra v Victoria, Cairns v Townsville.


DAVID GIFFIN will start his first Test in nearly 12 months after Australia named a new second row combination among a raft of changes for tomorrow's rugby union clash with Ireland.

Coach Eddie Jones made six changes and eight position switches to the injury-hit team which limped away from last weekend's bruising 17-6 win over Argentina in Buenos Aires.

Giffin came off the bench against the Pumas but completes his comeback into the starting side after shoulder surgery kept him out of the Super 12 and this year's other Tests.

Owen Finegan returns after missing the Argentina Test with an ankle injury but, in a possible pointer to his future, moves from his customary blindside flank spot to join Giffin in the second row.

Justin Harrison and Nathan Sharpe formed the second row in all six domestic Tests this year.

Dan Vickerman, who impressed in the second row in his first run-on Test against the Pumas, has been dropped from the 22 with Harrison going to the bench.

The front row also takes on a new shape as Adam Freier gets his first start at hooker in place of injured Jeremy Paul (hamstring) while Nick Stiles comes in at loosehead prop. Matt Burke moves from outside centre to fullback in place of the injured Mat Rogers.

To complete a revamped backline, Scott Staniforth and Wendell Sailor are the new wingers with Stirling Mortlock getting the chance he has long sought at outside centre with Ben Tune back home injured.

Tour bolter Matt Giteau could earn his first cap even before playing Super 12 after being named on the bench with Jones suggesting he may give the 20-year-old a run at flyhalf or inside centre.

With Sharpe left at home after recent shoulder surgery, Jones wants Finegan to take on the same role the Queenslander created for himself this year.

And while Jones was eager to see the 50-Test veteran in the second row, it won't necessarily be a permanent move.

"I don't think his days are over as a number six because he'll definitely play Super 12 there for the Brumbies given their resources in the second row," Jones said.

"Certainly we're keen to see him at lock. One of the developments this year was Nathan Sharpe's play.

"He showed the value of having one lock that could be a ball runner plus working hard, plus doing his share of lineout work.

"Given that Sharpe is out for a short period of time, we believe Owen could play that similar role, a big ball-running lock to do his fair share of tight work."

Jones admitted the injury problems presented a stern test of Australia's depth but he was happy with the team and confident 22-year-old Freier could handle the Irish after his tough 20 minutes off the bench against the combative Argentines.

"I don't think this week is going to be any easier for him," Jones said.

"We've got a reasonable amount of confidence that he's up to the task. He showed in the 20 minutes last Saturday night that he acquitted himself very well."

A CHANCE meeting in England has led tourist Dean Johnson on a fast track to the WA State soccer team.

Just three months after arriving in WA from the north of England, Johnson has been picked in the State squad to take on National Soccer League outfit Perth Glory in a challenge match at Perth Oval on Sunday.

Former Glory assistant coach Mickey Brennan was in England in April and spotted Johnson, from Huddersfield, playing for Ashton United in the Unibond league.

The pair spoke after the match and when Johnson mentioned he had planned a working holiday in Australia, Brennan, who is Hamersley Rovers' coach, invited the big central defender to the amateur club.

But the coach recognised Johnson's talent and almost immediately pointed him to WA Premier League side Western Knights where he was impressive during the closing stages of the season.

And when regular State central defenders Adrian Sutton, of Floreat Athena, and Aaron Cole, from Perth SC, recently ruled themselves out of the game against the Glory, coach Gary Marocchi added Johnson to the squad.

"I was very surprised," Johnson said of the call-up.

"I didn't really know much about the State side but I'm really looking forward to it."

Brennan believes Johnson has the potential to play in the NSL and sees Sunday's match as an opportunity for the defender to show what he can do.

Sydney NSL outfit Northern Spirit has already been alerted to the 26-year-old's ability.

Johnson and his girlfriend Alison intend staying in Perth until around March next year when they will head to the east coast.

Meanwhile, Marocchi's resources were further stretched when he learnt young defender Shaun Kilkelly will be required by the Glory on Sunday. The coach has called up experienced Perth midfielder Mark Pottier.

PERTH Glory star striker Bobby Despotovski will consider moving to another National Soccer League club if he is not offered a fresh contract by early next year.

The Glory's all-time leading goalscorer's deal expires at the end of the season in June, but the 31-year-old wants to know if he will be required beyond then to allow him time to look at other options.

Glory has indicated to the Socceroos striker that the club wants him to remain with Perth. "I would love to stay here if they want me, but if not I have another year or maybe two to offer another club," Despotovski said.

"I want to know in December or later in January what I'm going to do for next year because I'm definitely not ready to retire yet."

Glory chief executive Jeff Dennis said Despotovski was an asset to the club and the Glory had no intention of releasing him. "The club values Bobby and what he has done in six years here and we are committed to him staying at Perth Glory," Dennis said.

However, he would not comment on Despotovski's desire to know his future by January.

"We wont be entering into any discussions with any player until there is more certainty over the future direction of the league," he said.

The NSL's lack of a major sponsor and television coverage has cast serious doubts over next season's program. There have even been suggestions the league might have to go into recess for a season before desperately needed reform can take place.

However, there is sure to be plenty of interest from within Australia and even Asia in Despotovski should he not agree to new terms with Glory. Players, though, can only be approached by other clubs in the last six months of their contract.

Despotovski has improved with age and made his international debut in the Oceania Nations Cup in New Zealand this year.

He scored in his first appearance as a substitute in a 2-0 win over Vanuatu but saved his best for his starting debut.

When coach Frank Farina named him in the starting XI for the first time he responded by scoring four goals, including one after just three minutes, in an 11-0 rout of New Caledonia.

Another 11 Glory players will be out of contract at the end of the season, including regulars Damian Mori, Jamie Harnwell, Edgar, Brad Hassell, Shane Pryce and Andre Gumprecht.

The others are Michael Garcia, Todd Harnwell, reserve goalkeeper Vince Matassa, Dutch import Mohammed Mouhouti and Antonio Naglieri.

Despotovski, who has scored 72 goals in 161 Glory appearances, has been on the bench for the past two matches and is itching to return to action.

However, he conceded he was unlikely to return to the starting XI for the match against Wollongong Wolves at Perth Oval on Sunday.

"Obviously you don't want to be on the bench if you are good enough to play but that's the way it goes," he said. "I know that I'm good enough but you can't break the routine of a team that's winning and everybody has to understand that."

Nick Mrdja has started ahead of Despotovski since his training was interrupted by sickness before the home match against Sydney United three weeks ago.

Meanwhile, the popular Matt Horsley returned to Glory training yesterday after the death of his daughter Brook.

He is unlikely to be considered for Sunday's match against the Wolves. "We really missed Matt," coach Mich d'Avray said.

"Not just for what he does on the field, but for everything.

" He is a jovial, bouncy character, the sort of guy every club needs".

VICTORIAN opener Jason Arnberger is looking forward to reacquainting himself with the WACA Ground in the four-day game against the Warriors, starting tomorrow.

Arnberger has a solid record at the ground, where he made his first-class debut in the 1997-98 season.

The stocky 29-year-old has averaged 38 in Perth, including doubles of 45 and 63 (2000-2001), 28 and 57 (1999-2000), 97 and 13 (1998-99) and 45 and 14 (1997-98).

"I always like coming here and I am just looking forward to getting in and having a good game," he said.

Arnberger and the Bushrangers have had a tremendous start to the 2002-2003 season.

Victoria heads the four-day points table with two outright wins and a first innings success while Arnberger has 379 runs to his credit at an average of 94.

Arnberger finished with unbeaten scores of 172 and 102 against Tasmania earlier this month.

Arnberger said a rigorous pre-season campaign and passing up what had become a regular off-season stint with Scottish club Aberdeen had paid dividends this summer.

"I had a few injuries at the end of last year and just wanted to concentrate in having a big off-season and getting really fit," he said.

Australian Test stars Adam Gilchrist, Damien Martyn and Justin Langer were named in WA's squad for the four-day clash, with Shane Warne picked for Victoria.

Gilchrist will captain the Warriors for the first time this season with Warne to take a similar role for the Bushrangers.

Former South Australian fast bowler Paul Wilson was picked in the WA squad of 13 and is a good chance to replace Australia A call-up Brad Williams in the XII.

Exciting teenager Shaun Marsh, also selected in the Warriors squad, made 93 for grade team Willetton in a one-day game last Sunday.

Victorians Ian Harvey and Mathew Innes have slight hamstring injuries and will have to pass fitness tests today.

Fast bowler Shane Harwood has been ruled out due to illness.

Squads - WA: Adam Gilchrist (capt.), Justin Langer (vice-capt.), Jo Angel, Ryan Campbell, Michael Clark, Murray Goodwin, Brad Hogg, Michael Hussey, Shaun Marsh, Damien Martyn, Matthew Nicholson, Chris Rogers, Paul Wilson. Victoria: Shane Warne (capt.), Darren Berry (vice-capt.), Jason Arnberger, Will Carr, Robert Cassell, Ian Harvey, Brad Hodge, Mathew Innes, Michael Klinger, Michael Lewis, Jonathon Moss, Graeme Rummans, Cameron White.

A NERVY Lleyton Hewitt skipped further clear of Andre Agassi in the ATP Champions Race last night with victory in his opening match at the season-ending Masters Cup at The New Shanghai International Expo Centre.

Hewitt heaped the pressure on Agassi with an unconvincing 6-2 4-6 6-3 success against struggling Spaniard Albert Costa.

Agassi will begin his campaign tonight against Czech Jiri Novak knowing he now must win the tournament and hope Hewitt doesn't progress past the semi-finals in order to snatch the year-end No. 1 ranking from the Australian.

Hewitt is now 108 points ahead of the American with 150 points on offer to an unbeaten winner in Shanghai.

One more pool win for Hewitt would mean Agassi could not afford to drop a single match this week.

Costa's compatriot Carlos Moya leads the Red Group after upsetting in-form Russian Marat Safin 6-4 7-5 earlier in the first match of the event.

Hewitt and Moya are likely to face off tonight, with Costa and fellow first-up loser Safin set to clash, pending confirmation from the tournament referee.

Hewitt will need to lift to match Moya and Safin, last week's Paris Masters winner, and progress to the semi-finals, after taking nearly two and a half hours to scrape past Costa, who hasn't won a match since bowing out in the second round at the US Open in September.

Hewitt's serve was both his friend and foe last night.

He mixed a bagful of aces with a series of untimely double-faults, which led to the dropping of his two service games mid-match.

The top seed raced to a 4-0 lead in the first set before going off the boil and giving up a break in the sixth game with a double.

Hewitt eventually took the first set in 40 minutes with a big ace down the middle.

He was broken to love to fall behind 2-0 in the second and didn't break back until the seventh game to trail 3-4.

But Hewitt handed Costa the second set in 55 minutes with another double fault.

The Australian lifted the tempo at the start of the third, firing up to break the Costa serve in the opening game with an aggressive overhead and celebrating with his customary first pump and war cry.

But he had to battle hard to keep Costa at bay and was a relieved man when the Spaniard finally submitted with two unforced errors when serving to stay in the match at 3-5 in the third.

Hewitt confirmed he will cut back his schedule next year to focus more on the grand slam tournaments and to make his career last longer.

Hewitt, 21, has played an exhausting 162 singles matches over the past two years and the heavy program has taken a toll on his lean frame.

He has shown signs of burnout since winning Wimbledon in July and will play considerably fewer than the 21 tournaments plus a Davis Cup qualifying tie he took part in this season.

"For me, from now on, the slams are my priority and I'll set my schedule more so in the next few years to worry more about slams," Hewitt said.

"You look at a guy like Pete Sampras. Obviously Wimbledon was his No. 1 priority and the US Open and the Aussie Open.

"He built his schedule around the grand slams. He didn't play as many smaller tournaments. He concentrated on trying to peak for the big ones."

ENGLAND fast bowler Chris Silverwood vowed to hit back at the rampant Australian cricket team by fighting fire-with-fire after he arrived in Hobart yesterday.

Silverwood might have been jet-lagged after flying from England after being called up to replace injured Simon Jones, but he promised all the no-nonsense aggression of a Yorkshire quick.

The 27-year-old has spent nearly as much time in the air as on the ground after getting home from the Hong Kong Sixes only four days before his call-up.

He was an hour late when he caught up with his teammates, who had spent half a day travelling from Brisbane to Hobart where they will meet Australia A in a three-day game starting on Friday.

Silverwood has played five Tests, the last against South Africa in 2000, and just one limited-overs international, against Australia in 1997.

"This is a fantastic opportunity for me to cement a place in the Test side," said Silverwood, who's been a fringe player for years.

"If the opportunity comes, I'll grab it with both hands."

He said he was fit, had bowled fast in Hong Kong and was raring to go for the Hobart match.

He felt fighting fire-with-fire could put pressure on Australia.

Speed was a key, but "you have to get it in the right area as well".

Silverwood said he was sure the England team's resilient character would mean it would bounce back from its thrashing in Brisbane.

He was unimpressed by suggestions that a sports psychologist could help.

"I don't think they need one," he said.

It is doubtful whether Silverwood will get a start against Australia A, with a team spokesman confirming Steve Harmison and Andrew Flintoff were expected to be fit.

Alex Tudor, called up earlier for Darren Gough, is also likely to play.

THE Gallop Government will pursue its one vote, one value reforms in Australia's highest court in an effort to overturn a State Full Court decision which ruled out its recent electoral changes.

Last month the Full Court ruled the State Government's legislation was not legal because the relevant Bills were passed by the Upper House with a simple majority of 17 MPs when an absolute majority of 18 was needed.

Premier Geoff Gallop said the preferred action was to enact equal vote weighting through the WA Parliament but it would still appeal to the High Court.

"Obviously our preferred course and our favoured course of action is to deal with this matter through the Parliament of WA," he said.

Attorney-General Jim McGinty said advice from eminent constitutional lawyer David Jackson QC supported the Government's view that it passed the legislation correctly.

Deputy Opposition Leader Dan Sullivan said the Government was arrogantly ignoring the court's decision and wasting taxpayers' money.

"The Government is saying, 'We don't care what the umpire said, we are going to go out there and spend taxpayers' money to fight a decision made by four judges of the Supreme Court'. It is utter arrogance," Mr Sullivan said.

National Party leader Max Trenorden said the money spent on the High Court challenge would be better spent helping people affected by drought in regional WA.

Opposition legal affairs spokesman Peter Foss said the total cost of the Government's campaign for electoral reform could be as high as $5 million if the salaries of crown solicitors were taken into account.

Mr McGinty said that claim was nonsense. The cost of the appeal, including the fees to Mr Jackson, would be about $100,000.

Mr McGinty said he hoped The Greens (WA) would support the Bill now before the Parliament to amend the Constitution Act to give Labor's Legislative Council president John Cowdell a vote.

This would give the Government the absolute majority needed to pass its electoral reformsthrough Parliament a second time.

Greens MLCs/ were unable to reach a decision at a meeting yesterday, leaving the party's support for the Bill to be decided by a vote of party members on Saturday.

A WOMAN has been charged with giving her children fake identities in a Centrelink rort that netted more than $35,000 in four months.

Australian Federal Police raided the home of Tania Diane Bailey in Busselton last week and searched for identity, bank account and Centrelink documents.

They seized several items.

Ms Bailey, 30, was charged with rorting single-parent payments and family tax benefits to the value of $35,742.

She faces three counts of using false documents and one count each of obtaining financial advantage by deception and giving false information to Centrelink.

Police will allege Ms Bailey applied for the payments under her own name and listed the names of her two children.

She allegedly also assumed another identity and gave each of her children a false identity in order to claim more benefits.

Ms Bailey was released on $1000 bail to appear in Bunbury Magistrate's Court on November 26.

Centrelink called in Federal police in July after it detected anomalies in Ms Bailey's records.

The charges come after a national crackdown on welfare cheats which last year resulted in 3000 convictions over rorts worth more than $28 million.

A spokesman for Family and Community Services Minister Amanda Vanstone said more than 72,000 calls had been made to a hotline tipping off authorities about welfare cheats.

They resulted in 18,000 payments being cancelled or reduced, saving the welfare system up to $31 million.

Even Centrelink staff have come under scrutiny, with one WA staff member found to have stolen money he had reclaimed from customers who had refunded overpayments.

He was charged with 14 counts of misappropriating Commonwealth assets and stealing about $1800 which he had retrieved in his role as a collector of public monies.

The man has pleaded guilty and is awaiting sentencing.

The Centrelink computer system can cross-reference bank account details, addresses and names to make sure people cannot claim allowances for more than one identity.

But fraudsters regularly forge documents and alter official papers such as birth certificates.

In some cases, women have been found to have accepted payments under their maiden name and married name and also have changed their name by deed poll to get more money.

In recent, unrelated cases, two men in Perth were accused of committing identity fraud to rort Newstart allowances worth a total of $16,600. Both cases are still before the courts.

THERE is no guarantee that the hospital negligence that led to a woman becoming severely disabled after suffering a brain haemorrhage would not be repeated, according to a senior Health Department official.

Adele Sixsmith was referred to Royal Perth Hospital in August 1999 for a CT scan after she visited her GP complaining of an intense headache. But the scan was not done, and a RPH doctor sent Ms Sixsmith home with pain-killers after a few hours.

Six days later, she had a haemorrhage that left her blind and disabled. This week, Ms Sixsmith, 33, of Glen Forrest, was awarded a compensation payout of $3.6 million.

East Metropolitan Health Service area chief executive Glyn Palmer said that while procedures had been put in place to try to prevent a repeat of the error, there was no guarantee.

"It doesn't matter what you do in life, there is no way to ensure that someone is not going to make an error," he said. "Even in health care there is no guarantee that we are not going to make errors."

Mr Palmer said he had decided not to release the name of the RPH doctor who had failed to arrange the scan because she had suffered enough.

"I think that quite clearly she made a judgment call and that was wrong and that is why when we looked into it we admitted liability because clearly it was the wrong judgment," he said. "But she has clearly suffered and has obviously been devastated by what has happened."

Mr Palmer said the doctor no longer worked at RPH but he believed she was still in the public health system.

Insurance Commission of WA managing director Vic Evans said it was unlikely the record payout would affect hospital insurance premiums.

He said about $243 million had been put aside to cover liabilities across the whole of government. The claim formed part of those funds and would have no major impact on premiums.

Last financial year, the Government paid out $4.5 million for treatment liability claims. From July 1, 1998, to June 30, 2002, it paid out about $15.9 million.

In the past four years, it has settled 202 treatment liability claims.

Health Department spokeswoman Jean Perkins said the department could not disclose how much it spent on hospital insurance premiums because of commercial sensitivity.

Last year, Daniel Burmann, 6, was awarded a record payout of $4.7 million for medical negligence at his birth at King Edward Memorial Hospital.

HE can shoot, everyone knows that, but how quick on the draw is he? The time had come to find out.

If Brett Wheeler had not grown to 208cm, he would not have become the starting centre for the Perth Wildcats basketball team. Instead, he'd probably spend his weekends in a mall, turning out charcoal caricatures of passers-by to concurrently fulfil his creative urge and fill his pockets.

Wheeler's reputation as a cartoonist preceded him when he transferred from Victoria to Perth for this National Basketball League season. Numerous players and officials had been the subject of his pencil and Wildcats' administrators are getting accustomed to finding their likeness penned on the office white board.

So, the challenge was issued when Wheeler strode into Challenge Stadium half an hour before Tuesday afternoon's training session: draw yourself in less than 10 minutes. The big man headed to the cafe, sat down, hauled a pen and pad out of his bag and immediately set to work, muttering phrases like "prominent chin" and "bushy eyebrows".

The likeness he produced was nearly as impressive as the time taken: a few ticks over six minutes.

"My dad used to draw and when I was six I found his sketch book and started copying it," recalled Wheeler. "Things just developed from there."

In 1990 he juggled his art studies at university in Adelaide with his first year as a professional basketballer with the 36ers.

"It was quite tiring doing both, so I kept a pillow under my design desk at uni and I'd crawl under and grab a nap sometimes," he said. "The class once had to sketch me sleeping as part of a life-drawing course."

Wheeler, 30, wants to add more dimension to his art when he retires from the NBL.

"My ultimate job would be making television advertisements," he revealed. "You have to be very creative in those 30 seconds."

WESTERN Power failed to install an electricity meter at a big business centre and took 13 years to notice.

The blunder saw the Home Base Expo in Subiaco allegedly get "free" power worth nearly $1.3 million, Western Power estimates.

It has begun expensive Supreme Court action to try to get the money. But the company it is suing, Homebase Management Pty Ltd, says it will defend the case.

The utility has also had to back-bill 89 other big customers since detecting faults last year in so-called CT meters, used for very high voltages.

A Western Power spokesman said yesterday that confidential settlements had been reached with all but a few. He would not say how much money had been recovered.

Some customers had been overcharged and got refunds. He said details were not available yesterday.

So far, 5000 CT meters have been checked. Before the audit ends next June, 12,000 more will be.

Last year, The West Australian reported that Western Power had had to write off $3.3 million because of faulty meter readings. It has annual electricity sales of $1.43 billion.

The Western Power spokesman said the missing master meter at the Home Base Expo was a separate and isolated issue. It was discovered in April 2000, and a meter installed, after an audit of zero meters.

These meters usually have a nil recording because only very small amounts of energy are being used.

There are about 3000 legitimate zero meters in WA but more than $1.5 million has been recovered after checks of other zero meters, some of which had been tampered with.

In its writ, served on Monday on Homebase Management Pty Ltd, Western Power said it inadvertently did not install a meter when it connected the two-storey Home Base Expo building to power in October 1987.

It did, however, install a meter to record power used to light the centre's carpark. All the power bills for the carpark have been paid.

The writ claims the company is liable for all electricity supplied to the centre from about October 1987 to April 2000. A bill for $1,297,571 sent to the company in May 2000 had gone unpaid.

A lawyer for Homebase Management, Phillips Fox solicitor Ian Curlewis, said the claim would be defended. The company considered the invoice was excessive, inaccurate and had not been validly raised.

Homebase Management, whose directors include Kevin Prindiville and Murray Day, leases the site from Subiaco City Council and has tenants with sub-lease agreements.

Energy Minister Eric Ripper said taxpayers owned the utility and would not be pleased to hear about the mistake.

"If we had a truly competitive market this sort of thing would be unlikely to happen. Pressure would be on to make sure that all the electricity sold was actually paid for," he said.

DISABLED pensioner Graham Smith gave up fighting for his house after a brief appearance in the Supreme Court yesterday.

Mr Smith, 56, of Yangebup, had vowed to fight the Director of Public Prosecutions who seized the deed to his house days after he pleaded guilty in the District Court last year to possessing cannabis with intent to sell or supply it.

The first offender, who worked as a boilermaker for years to buy the house, got a 15-month suspended sentence with an 18-month good behaviour bond.

Because the weight of the plants he grew was nearly 10kg, Mr Smith was declared a drug trafficker.

Under WA's rigid Criminal Property Confiscation Act, Mr Smith's home was forfeited to the State even though he can prove he paid for it with money obtained legally.

"I have lost my house but it's just a matter of time to get to move out," he said outside the court yesterday.

"I have lived there for 17 years so I have accumulated quite a lot of stuff and I need to sell what I can sell."

Yesterday, Mr Smith asked the DPP to apply for an adjournment.

He needed more time to move, he said.

Mr Smith admitted he made a mistake in growing the plants but he claims the useable amount of cannabis was far less than 10kg.

He had wanted to make enough money from the sales to repair his roof.

"If the Government thinks that by taking everything way from people they are going to not break the law again then they are stupid," he said.

"If you take everything away from people and make them destitute you are looking for trouble."

Mr Smith's back was injured in a car crash and his wife died five years ago in a separate accident.

He had lived in the house for 18 years and paid it off six years ago, he said.

THESE are the razor-sharp spurs used in cockfighting which often cause the death of both birds in a fight.

Animal welfare lobbyists are appealing for public help to stamp out the practice.

The RSPCA has set up a toll-free hotline tomorrow for people to report suspected cock and dog fighting activities.

RSPCA national president Hugh Wirth said the blood sports were barbaric and even the winner often had appalling injuries.

The call came as WA MPs last night passed a new Animal Welfare Bill, which lifts the maximum penalty for animal cruelty from a $5000 fine or one year in jail to a $50,000 fine or five years jail. The Bill languished for more than a year before the Government brought it forward for debate.

IRAQ'S parliament yesterday recommended rejection of a United Nations resolution on the return of international arms inspectors - but left the final decision to President Saddam Hussein.

The UN has asked Iraq to respond by Saturday to what is seen as Baghdad's last chance to come clean on weapons of mass destruction that the regime denies possessing.

If it does not, or falters afterwards in meeting the tough provisions of the UN resolution, the United States and Britain have made it clear they will attack Iraq.

Iraq's 250-member parliament yesterday accepted an earlier recommendation from its foreign relations committee to reject the UN resolution.

It said the "political leadership" should "adopt what it considers appropriate to defend the Iraqi people and Iraq's independence and dignity and authorises President Saddam Hussein to adopt what he sees as appropriate, expressing our full support for his wise leadership".

The move could be seen as strengthening Mr Saddam's hand if he wants to take a hard line. Had parliament - open only to Mr Saddam's supporters - bowed to the UN, Mr Saddam could also have done so and claimed the decision was the will of the Iraqi people.

Mr Saddam's influential elder son, Uday, said Iraq should accept the resolution - but should require some inspectors be Arab and be prepared for war nonetheless. Iraq must take the initiative and launch an "armed action" if diplomacy failed.

The US dismissed the Iraqi parliament's rejection of the resolution as political theatre and said it awaited Baghdad's official response.

"We want to see whether Saddam will take the one final opportunity to cooperate with the UN and disarm," White House national security spokesman Sean McCormack said.

The UN resolution demands inspectors have unrestricted access to any suspected weapons site and the right to interview Iraqi scientists outside the country and without Iraqi officials present. Earlier yesterday, US President George Bush said: "Saddam Hussein will fully disarm and prove that he has done so, or America will lead a coalition to disarm him.

"Should military action become necessary for our own security, I will commit the full force and might of the United States military, and we will prevail."

Mr Bush has approved tentative Pentagon plans for invading Iraq should a new UN arms inspection effort fail to rid the nation of weapons of mass destruction.

The strategy calls for a land, sea and air force of up to 250,000 troops.

Federal Opposition Leader Simon Crean said the US must act only with the support of the UN. "We will not support any unilateral action, any pre-emptive strike, that does not go back to the UN," he said. Prime Minister John Howard left open the option of a US-led strike if Iraq snubbed the UN.

AUSTRALIAN hospitals and trauma services would not cope with a medical emergency such as the Bali bomb blasts and were not up to international standards, the Australian College of Surgeons has warned.

RACS trauma committee chairman Peter Danne said it should be a concern to all Australians that a catastrophe like the Bali bomb blast would severely test Australian medical systems because appropriate levels of trauma care were not in place.

"At the moment we are running at 100 per cent capacity which leaves no room for emergencies," he said.

It was not good enough that Australian trauma services did not approach international benchmarks.

"The Federal Government must put some money towards improving trauma services because we may not have long to get it right," he said.

Federal Health Minister Kay Patterson said the Bali victims received world-class treatment in Australia's public hospital system.

She visited Australian hospitals, including some in WA, and witnessed hospital staff treating the Bali bombing victims.

"They have worked incredibly hard at this very difficult time and it is times like these that make us all realise what a wonderful health system we have," she said.

Department of Health director-general Mike Daube said any health system would be tested by a major disaster but the Bali bombing had shown the WA health system was world-class.

"It has coped superbly with the most severe disaster to have faced us in recent years," Mr Daube said.

"But we cannot afford any sense of complacency and must take all the action we can at a State level and nationally to ensure that we are prepared for disasters of any kind."

Associate Professor Danne said a pre-planned system was needed to ensure a patient was sent to the right hospital at the right time and with the appropriate resources and staff to care for them.

"The golden hour is well recognised after injury where a patient's bleeding and hypoxic problems may result in death without appropriate care," he said.

Analysis of United States responses to terrorism showed it was critically important to establish an integrated trauma system in regions where terrorism was a possibility.

But such systems in Australasia were only in their infancy and were deficient.

He said the current average potentially preventable death rate in Australian trauma services was 30 per cent.

But international benchmarks revealed the potentially preventable death rate should be well under 10 per cent and closer to 4 per cent.

THE Federal Government has identified more than 200 Pakistani nationals masquerading as Afghan asylum seekers, many of whom are suspected of being linked to al Qaida and other extremist Islamic groups.

The Federal Government has identified more than 200 Pakistani asylum seekers claiming Afghan nationality but a report in The Age newspaper said the final figure could be as many as 1500.

The paper said many of the Pakistanis were suspected of being linked to al-Qaeda and other extremist Islamic groups.

Investigations into 3700 temporary protection visa holders was being conducted by a network of State-based tactical groups set up by the Immigration Department, The Age said.

The groups are referring visa holders with suspect security backgrounds to ASIO and federal police.

Immigration Minister Philip Ruddock said the Pakistan government was cooperating with Australia in providing background documents on suspect cases.

The paper said a significant number of the 200 being targeted for removal were believed to come from Quetta in Pakistan where the Taliban and al-Qaeda had community roots, and Islamic extremism was prevalent in Islamic schools known as Madrasses.

Inquiries by The Age among Muslim communities in Melbourne, Adelaide and Sydney indicate that the number of Pakistani nationals living in Australia as Afghans - and in some cases Iranians - is far higher than previously thought by Mr Ruddock, who originally put the figure at about 700.

In Adelaide, Afghan community leaders, who asked not to be identified for fear of reprisals, said 70 per cent, or 700 of Afghan TPV holders living in South Australia had been identified as Pakistani, the paper said.

AN HIV-positive man jailed for infecting a sexual partner with the virus that can cause AIDS has been criticised strongly by a District Court judge who labelled his crime appalling.

Father-of-three Ronald Houghton was sentenced yesterday to seven years jail. He was convicted last month of causing grievous bodily harm by contaminating a teenager with the virus.

Houghton, formerly of Kenwick, was diagnosed with the virus in 1990 and knew of the dangers to sexual partners. But he did not tell his then 17-year-old girlfriend of his condition during a four-month sexual relationship which began in mid-1999 after the pair met through an internet chatroom.

The 21-year-old victim, whose name is suppressed, wept after Houghton was sentenced.

In sentencing, Judge Michael Muller said Houghton had used the trusting girl for his sexual gratification. He continually deceived the victim, even showing her a faked medical letter to say he was HIV-negative when confronted by her.

"What you did to this young woman could reasonably be described as appalling," Judge Muller said.

He said Houghton's pattern of deception and lies led him to reject Houghton's claim that he held an honest belief that it was safe to have sex provided he did not ejaculate.

"You put her whole future in jeopardy," the judge said. "Many would say her life has been ruined."

Outside court, Det-Const. Gary Fitzgerald said the woman had not wanted Houghton to be charged with a criminal offence. But he had denied his responsibility and continued the deceit.

Const. Fitzgerald said the victim was a remarkable woman who remained positive.

"While she's happy that it's over, for her it's not really over," he said. "She's got the rest of her life to put up with this.

"It never had to get this far. She was happy at the time to just have an apology and know what was going on with her life."

THE Parole Board has decided that the killer of 16-year-old Vicky Groves, stabbed to death at Churchlands High School 11 years ago, should be prepared for release.

The recommendation - yet to go to the State Government - has sparked public concern, the third time this week that the board's advice has done so.

Advocates for Survivors of Child Abuse WA co-director Michelle Stubbs yesterday urged the Government not to approve the 18-month program of graduated releases for the killer, who was 15 at the time of the murder.

She said the board appeared to have ignored submissions from Miss Groves' fellow students, teachers and family members saying they feared he would reoffend.

Ms Stubbs said she believed the man had shown no remorse. He did not deserve to go free so soon after such a violent murder.

But a clinical psychologist and prisoner advocate said the public needed to consider whether it wanted offenders released straight from jail with no conditions on their freedom, or gradually reintroduced to society with controls in place.

The killer is not named because he was a juvenile at the time of the offence.

In November 1991, he went to school with a big knife concealed on his back. Stunned students in an English class watched in terror when he stabbed Miss Groves, his former girlfriend, 18 times.

In August 1992, he admitted wilful murder and was given a life sentence with a minimum of 12 years.

His lawyer had told the court the youth had originally intended only to brandish the knife to get Miss Groves' attention and tell her he loved her. He came from a chaotic and broken family.

While on remand, the youth formed a relationship with an older woman working in the prison system which is understood to be continuing.

Clinical and forensic psychologist Phil Watts, who did the pre-sentence report on him 10 years ago, said yesterday that such young offenders had the capacity to mature positively with age.

Dr Watts, who stressed he had had no recent contact with the killer, said completing education or other courses reduced the risk of reoffending.

But factors that increased the risk were that the original crime was horrific, and that the youth had been institutionalised during his early adult years, without opportunity to develop normal social relationships.

Prison Fellowship State director Kevin Bourne-McRae said offenders could change for the better while in prison. The Parole Board had the necessary information and expertise to assess if they had. Its advice should be heeded.

Attorney-General Jim McGinty said this week that he had rejected Parole Board advice to release two prisoners because he had concerns they were still a public risk.

The prisoners were vicious rapist Brian Michael Yorkshire, who was blocked from entering a pre-release program, and serial paedophile Robert Ernest Excell, who was already on a home-release program.

A VIOLENT incident at Kingsley Oval on Thursday night dishonoured those players who lost their lives in Bali, according to Kingsley Football Club.

A group of young people clashed with police who were arresting an alleged drunk driver after he crashed his car into a log fence at the oval about 9.30pm.

Several youths were pepper sprayed and two officers received facial injuries.

The incident came after the funeral of Bali bombing victim and Kingsley player Dean Gallagher.

"It's a sad way to end a day which was honouring the life of Dean Gallagher and I hope that the culprits are ashamed of themselves," senior coach Simon Quayle said.

Mr Quayle said the clubhouse had been closed at 5.15pm and police were called to an adjacent oval.

"At that time, Kingsley Football Club players and officials were at a charity function hosted by Kevin Bloody Wilson which raised $21,000 for the Red Cross Bali Appeal," Mr Quayle said.

GRAVE fears are held for two Esperance fishermen after wreckage of a boat was found at the base of remote cliffs in the Great Australian Bight.

The men were last seen sailing to the Bight more than a week ago ready for yesterday's start of the crayfishing season.

Police say the pair, aged 57 and 61, were last in contact with the owner of their boat, the 13m timber Adriatic Star, late on Saturday.

Yesterday the biggest aerial search conducted near Esperance, with eight planes and a helicopter covering 10,000sq km, discovered small pieces of boat wreckage at the base of 90m limestone cliffs.

Eucla officer-in-charge Sgt Peter Vale said the pieces, found near Pt Dover, about 400km east of Esperance, were too small to identify as being from the Adriatic Star. Last night hopes centred on a small dinghy, supposed to be attached to the boat, which was unaccounted for. The cliffs at Pt Dover are about 20km from the nearest beach and 40km over rough terrain from Eyre Highway.

Last night about 60 State Emergency Service volunteers, police, pilots and air observers gathered at Caiguna Roadhouse to prepare for a search by 12 aircraft at first light today. A team of five SES-trained cliff rescuers flew from Geraldton to Kalgoorlie yesterday to join the search.

An Australian Search and Rescue spokesman said the search area would be scaled down to 7000sq km.

Sgt Vale said the Adriatic Star had been recently surveyed and was believed to be carrying a satellite telephone, emergency beacon and flares. However, none appeared to have been used. A search plane flew the length of the coastline on Thursday night but failed to spot a flare.

Sgt Vale said police were contacted on Monday by a Eucla fisherman after the men failed to arrive at Wanteen, 70km east of Eucla. At his request police had tuned into the boat's radio frequency but did not hear any activity.

The same fisherman contacted police on Thursday and after the frequency was tried again Eucla police contacted the boat's owner, farmer Bernie Pozzi.

Esperance Fisheries WA officers also contacted police early on Thursday after hearing the boat had not been in touch with other crayfishing boats.

Yesterday, members of Esperance's small southern rock lobster fishery said it was normal practice to keep in daily contact with fishermen at sea and expressed concern that the alarm was not raised before Thursday.

It is understood that Mr Pozzi, who did not wish to speak to The West Australian yesterday, is a farmer who became involved in the lobster industry this year.

PARENTS can breathe a sigh of relief - the hottest toys this Christmas are some of the cheapest.

But the bad news is the toys tipped to top Santa's lists will be in short supply, according to retailers. And the frontrunner is already proving difficult to track down.

It is a spinning top called Beyblades which, at $14.75, is one of the least expensive toys around.

Beyblades are souped-up versions of the classic spinning top which do battle with each other. They have been on toy shelves since May but did not take off until October when the TV cartoon Beyblades hit free-to-air television.

"They went from overstock to out-of-stock within one week," said Kmart toy manager Rob Ruffolo.

Toys R Us merchandising manager John Redenbach said its WA stores had people queuing before opening on Beyblades delivery days. The show's popularity had caught manufacturers unaware.

Whitfords Super Toyworld owner Julie Martin said her shop had 20 to 30 calls a day, with the first always about Beyblades.

The TV show-based Zoids, motorised mythical battling beasts, is another unexpected success story.

Fans of robotic pets will fall in love with MicroPets for a fraction of the cost of its forebears, Furby and Poochi. These pint-sized versions sing, respond to commands, interact with each other and cost about $20.

"It is one of the most exciting toy years because of the amount of product that is available and selling, from Bratz dolls to MicroPets and Beyblades," Mr Redenbach said.

Mr Ruffolo said many of the top toys cost under $20 and people were buying two or three items at a time, making it an affordable Christmas.

Georgina Fatharly, 4, has picked out her favourites at Kmart - Rapunzel Barbie ($49.95) for herself and Chicken Dance Elmo ($49.95) for her brother.

However, Barbie is facing stiff competition from Bratz dolls ($29.99). These sassy sisters are popular among older girls who have outgrown Barbie.

"Bratz dolls are appealing to the nine-year-olds who want to be 14-year-olds," Mr Ruffolo said.

But Mr Redenbach said there were still some big- ticket family items this year, including Xbox and Sony PlayStation package deals. One of the most popular must-haves were karaoke machines.

FREE treatment by the nation's 19,000 family doctors slumped to an 11-year low over winter, when people traditionally are sickest and in most need of medical help.

Medicare figures released yesterday revealed that the steady decline in GP bulk-billing, which began seven years ago, continued unchecked and might have accelerated. The proportion of GP visits that were bulk-billed, leaving patients without any out-of-pocket expenses, fell 2.7 per cent in the September quarter to reach 71.2 per cent. Two years ago it was 78.3 per cent.

The Australian Medical Association claimed it was the biggest three-month drop since the introduction of Medicare in 1983.

Labor health spokesman Stephen Smith described the result as catastrophic. He said the restoration of bulk-billing rates, which hit an 80.6 per cent high in 1996-97, was his absolute highest policy priority.

He also hinted that savings from the possible revamp of the 30 per cent private health insurance rebate could be redirected to increasing Medicare rebates. Labor is reconsidering its policy on the $2.4 billion rebate, including the introduction of means tests and abolition of ancillaries.

"What I'm putting on the table is that whatever savings might come, if any, from the private health insurance rebate, my starting point would be thinking of using those funds for the restoration of bulk-billing," Mr Smith said.

Doctors have blamed the slump on the Federal Government's refusal to ensure that rebates keep pace with the rising cost of providing medical services. As a result, many GPs are prepared to bulk-bill only age pensioners and other concession-card holders. The rest get charged more than the Medicare Benefits Schedule fee of $25.05 a standard GP consultation.

AMA Federal president Kerryn Phelps predicted further sharp falls in bulk billing.

"Patients are simply going to have to . . . become more accustomed to the notion of paying something out-of-pocket for their doctors' bills because doctors can't subsidise Medicare any longer," Dr Phelps said.

Health Consumers' Council executive director Michele Kosky said she supported higher Medicare payments for GPs, who were badly underpaid compared with specialists.

Health Minister Kay Patterson said she was disappointed with the rate slump, but added: "The Government cannot dictate to doctors how much to charge their patients."

State Health Minister Bob Kucera said bulk-billing, one of the foundation stones of Medicare, was fast disintegrating.

AUTHOR Avon Lovell has won a respite from a looming 65-day jail term for failing to pay all of a $30,000 fine for contempt in the police royal commission.

A Supreme Court warrant was issued on Thursday to arrest Mr Lovell for failing to pay the second of three $10,000 instalments which carried a jail default penalty.

Yesterday, the final instalment fell due, taking his total fines debt to $20,000 for which he could face 130 days in jail.

Chief Justice David Malcolm declared last night that no action would be taken to enforce Thursday's warrant until midday on Monday.

Jail could be avoided if Mr Lovell then made a successful plea to postpone execution of the warrant and sought an extension of time to pay.

Mr Lovell earned the reprieve after making a $3000 down payment on the debt yesterday.

"I appreciate the court's generosity," he said. "I have a duty to pay the fine and I will."

He maintained he began with good intentions to expose corruption but the episode turned sour when he was cited for contempt in the royal commission and got ugly when jail loomed.

"I'm doing everything I can possibly do to pay the fines because I have no intention of going to jail," he said. "This is not an act of defiance. I just ran out of time."

Mr Lovell did not attend the royal commission when called on July 15 to discuss the confession of former detective Tony Lewandowski, who was then in Thailand.

He did attend two days later when he refused to enter the witness box and left without permission. He was fined $30,000 for contempt in the Supreme Court in August.

Mr Lovell paid the first $10,000 instalment. He claims he lent the second payment to a friend, expecting his debt would be paid while he was lecturing in the Eastern States.

Mr Lovell said he had begun legal action against Channel 7 for allegedly failing to pay $76,000 of $130,000 in media deals he negotiated with it and the Sunday Times.

THIS time, the boot is on the other foot. The underdog Australians are desperate to knock the arrogant English off their perch.

Two losses in two years at Twickenham, both followed by over the top gloating by the English, have left the Wallabies stinging and determined for revenge at England's rugby union headquarters today.

Last week's loss to Ireland and a dour win over Argentina the week before, however, is not great form to take into what coach Eddie Jones has called the Wallabies' grand final.

Add to that a long list of injuries and England's win over New Zealand last weekend - its 16th in a row at Twickenham - and the world champion team remains the underdog, no matter how much motivation it has.

"When you come on a northern hemisphere tour, the England game is definitely the biggest game, especially this time after losing the last two years," said hooker Jeremy Paul who missed last year's 21-15 loss.

"There's a lot of guys who lost last year who are really excited about the game. There's a lot of feeling about this game."

The feeling runs strong on both sides.

The Australians still remember England halfback Matt Dawson giving them a mouthful in 2000 as they gathered behind the posts after Dan Luger's contentious last-second try gave England a 22-19 win and continuing his abuse after the whistle.

Neil Back's tears in the dressing room last year and coach Clive Woodward's sarcastic rant in the post-match press conference show how much England loves beating Australia.

"The more animated we get when we're successful means it means more to us," Dawson said.

"If you can get hold of a scalp in your career and it's Australia or New Zealand, you've got to savour it and that's why we're all emotional."

Jones and Woodward added spice to the mix this week with their exchange over the use of decoy runners.

The Australians interpreted Woodward's complaints about New Zealand's decoy runners as an admission England's defence had major flaws.

So Jones has selected a versatile backline which he hopes will baffle the English, as long as New Zealand referee Paul Honnis "referees to the law".

Elton Flatley at inside centre will act as another ball distributor outside flyhalf Stephen Larkham and provide a platform for more of the decoy ploys from which the English conceded three tries last week.

But the key lies in the forwards where Australia was outmuscled by the Irish last week and embarrassed by the English last year.

Paul, prop Bill Young and second-rowers Justin Harrison and Dan Vickerman have been recalled to make up the same pack which matched the powerful Argentinians but they know they must be at their best to take it to the English forwards.

England has never beaten Australia three times in a row since they started playing each other in 1909.

But Jones believes England has improved since last year and today will provide a benchmark on where both teams stand 11 months away from the World Cup.

England: Jason Robinson, James Simpson-Daniel, Will Greenwood, Mike Tindall, Ben Cohen, Jonny Wilkinson, Matt Dawson, Richard Hill, Neil Back, Lewis Moody, Ben Kay, Martin Johnson (capt.), Phil Vickery, Steve Thompson, Jason Leonard. Reserves: Mark Regan, Robbie Morris, Danny Grewcock, Lawrence Dallaglio, Andy Gomarsall, Austin Healey, Tim Stimpson.

Australia: Matt Burke, Wendell Sailor, Daniel Herbert, Elton Flatley, Stirling Mortlock, Stephen Larkham, George Gregan (capt.), Toutai Kefu, George Smith, Matt Cockbain, Justin Harrison, Dan Vickerman, Patricio Noriega, Jeremy Paul, Bill Young. Reserves: Adam Freier, Ben Darwin, David Giffin, David Croft, Chris Whitaker, Matt Giteau, Scott Staniforth.

PERTH has been dumped as a venue for next year's Tri-Nations rugby union clash between Australia and South Africa.

However, a compromise deal has seen the game replaced by a clash between the Wallabies and Ireland.

The move has been forced on the Australian Rugby Union because of a clash of dates with the AFL, which refused to reschedule a Subiaco Oval match between Fremantle and Richmond on August 2.

Instead, the Springbok clash has been transferred to Brisbane, with the Ireland game, originally scheduled for the Queensland capital, coming to Subiaco Oval on June 7.

Ireland will meet the Wallabies in a World Cup group match four months later.

In many ways, it is a fortuitous switch. Though the last two South African games, in 1998 and 2001, were sold out, Ireland has taken on more significance after it beat the Wallabies in Dublin last weekend.

And the Springboks are scheduled to play two World Cup games - one a headlining clash against England - at Subiaco Oval in October.

Given that Australia also recently struggled against Argentina, another group opponent, the Ireland clash becomes a critical pointer to the Wallabies' World Cup title defence.

The ARU says the switch of the Ireland-South Africa games is the best solution.

"We made a booking with Subiaco Oval back in August but learnt six weeks later that the AFL intended to schedule a match there on the same date," ARU chief executive John O'Neill said yesterday.

"The AFL has a preferential hiring agreement with the WA Football Commission so we were left with no room to move."

An AFL spokesman said its fixtures could not be moved because it would have meant playing two games at either Colonial Stadium or the MCG on one day.

"We were happy to try to help the ARU but we couldn't," an AFL spokesman said.

However, all organisations involved in the new deal appear to have embraced the switch.

EventsCorp and the ARU have a five-year deal to play a Test match in Perth every year. Three of them are against the Springboks, with the other two against lesser opponents.

The World Cup was a bonus and the new deal means fans won't now have to double dip in the one year.

"Given the state of the rand, it would be difficult to attract South African fans to Perth twice in the one year," EventsCorp acting director Mike Rees said yesterday.

"We are now negotiating with the ARU for South Africa to play a Test in Perth in 2004."

That appears a likely outcome given that the ARU does not like the same country to play in the same venue two years in a row.

The last Perth clash against Ireland in 1999 attracted just 28,000 fans but that was on a wet night and before the redevelopment of Subiaco Oval.

"The Wallabies-Ireland game is just as good (as a Springbok match) in a World Cup year," Subiaco Oval ground manager Shane Walsh said yesterday.

"There will be just as much hype. It's really fallen into place."

ENGLAND'S Ashes campaign slipped further into the mire yesterday as its attack was hammered into oblivion and star batsman Michael Vaughan was dismissed for only eight against Australia A at Bellerive Oval.

Queensland's Martin Love, having ruined the tourists' first Test preparations with a time consuming 250 in Brisbane, was again responsible for derailing England's only opportunity to get its bowling sorted out before successive Tests in Adelaide and Perth.

Love yesterday blazed an unbeaten 201 as Australia's second XI crushed any optimism England had with a first innings declaration at 3-353 in 303 minutes. The tourists were 1-50 in reply at stumps.

All that after stand-in captain Marcus Trescothick followed Nasser Hussain's blunder at the toss in Brisbane last week by calling correctly and sending Australia A in to bat.

Rightly convinced Andy Caddick and Ashley Giles had done enough at the Gabba to hold their place in the England attack for Adelaide, the tourists' brains trust yesterday unleashed Alex Tudor, Stephen Harmison, Andy Flintoff, Craig White and Richard Dawson on the Australia A side.

Oddly, Chris Silverwood, flown out from England this week as another enthusiastic replacement, was made 12th man despite White falling well short in the first Test and Dawson very much the tourists' second-string spinner.

Assistant coach Graham Dilley expressed exasperation after Tudor, Harmison and Flintoff took only one wicket between them.

"On a flat track you have very little margin for error," the former England fast bowler said.

"You need discipline, patience and luck - and we're nowhere near any of those."

Love agreed the England bowlers did not make the most of the early conditions, bowling too short and wide.

But he warned that Harmison, with whom he had played at Durham, could turn matches on his good days.

Tudor began promisingly by banging opener Matthew Elliott on the elbow, forcing him to retire hurt, and grabbing the wicket of Jimmy Maher for six, but never looked threatening to finish with 1-79 from 19 overs.

All-rounder Flintoff, his Test return delayed following a hernia operation, failed to take a wicket while conceding 62 runs from 10 overs, with nine no balls.

Once the first hour was weathered, the bowling attack fell away and Love and Greg Blewett (25) put on 140.

Michael Clarke, rapidly heading for higher honours, and Love then piled on 123 in 112 minutes before the NSW 21-year-old, having rushed to his half century with two fours off Tudor, skied a slog.

England lost Vaughan before he reached double figures when he edged Brad Williams on to his stumps.

After scores of 33 and 0 in the first Test, Vaughan had been looking for an innings of Love proportions.

IF IT is true that you make your own luck, Brad Hogg must have crafted a fine specimen at the WACA Ground yesterday before dropping it at a crucial stage.

But he was good enough to salvage the remnants and re-apply them late in the day to set WA on the path to outright victory over Victoria.

Hogg has waited seven years to score his third first-class century after a brace of tons in 1995-96 helped him secure a Test debut.

Runs have come aplenty in club cricket, including 285 in a semi-final two seasons ago to give him the WACA's highest score, and his past two first-class seasons have brought 762 runs at 63.50 with seven 50s.

Nonetheless, Hogg's position at the top of the WA tail has meant opportunities to play big innings have been limited.

Hogg had the chance yesterday as he thumped Victoria's bowlers for 93 out of WA's 416 but fell just as the three figures beckoned.

He was just 51 when Matthew Nicholson was the seventh batsman to fall at 369 but produced an exceptional effort in scoring another 42 while shepherding three batsmen who have genuine claims to be No. 11.

Hogg thrashed five sixes in seven balls from medium-pacer Jon Moss and used the sea breeze and shorter eastern boundary to great effect during that late stanza.

"It is the best day's cricket I've had in my career," Hogg said.

"A hundred doesn't mean as much as going on to win the game."

When Hogg eventually fell, bowled as he tried to crack Moss over mid-on, WA had built an imposing lead of 306 and a virtually impregnable position in the match.

The left-armer didn't bowl in the first innings as Victoria succumbed to seam and swing and it took an hour and a half for him to be introduced in the second dig but only a few balls to make an impact.

Victoria's openers Jason Arnberger and Moss had fought hard against the new ball, both playing and missing numerous times on a pitch that offered reasonable bounce and enough seam movement to give the bowlers hope.

They had taken the score to 78 but Hogg was to immediately undo the good start when he struck in his second over.

The ball dropped on Arnberger (39) as he lunged forward defensively only to edge a low catch to Damien Martyn at slip.

When Paul Wilson bowled Moss for 34 in the next over, the batsman not picking the line as the ball straightened, Victoria had started to stumble.

But Hogg had not finished. Brad Hodge, whose poor record in Perth continued in the first innings, dropped a defensive bat on his third ball at the crease only to see it spin backwards on to his stumps. His duck was his ninth single figure score in eight visits to the ground.

Victoria had lost its third wicket in 10 minutes and would have no margin for error in any attempt to save the match. It was 3-143 at stumps, still 163 in arrears.

WOLLONGONG Wolves plan to follow the example of the Brisbane Strikers and South Melbourne by taking the game to Perth Glory at Perth Oval tomorrow.

Wolves striker Stuart Young said yesterday the New South Wales outfit would attack a Glory side that had shown signs of vulnerability this season against teams willing to press for victory.

Wollongong is desperate for three points to help cement a place in the National Soccer League top six and the former English professional believes the Glory defence can be exposed.

"They don't seem to be the force they've been in the past - certainly when compared to last season when they were unstoppable," Young said yesterday.

"They seem a little bit unsettled at the back. In a couple of games this year, particularly Brisbane at home and South Melbourne, I believe they were opened up a few times.

"That's something we've got to try to do this weekend. We will be trying to take advantage of any slip-ups."

The Glory was beaten 4-3 by Brisbane and 2-0 away by South Melbourne but has won its other five games this season.

Young's statement that the Wolves are planning a Perth Oval raid will come as little surprise to Glory coach Mich d'Avray and assistant Alan Vest.

The pair have been hard at work this week preparing a back four of Scott Miller, David Tarka, Shane Pryce and Mohammed Mouhouti in the expectation of a three-man attack.

Young, the experienced Zeljko Babic and 20-year-old Naum Sekulovski, who are the only Wolves players to have scored this season, lined up in the starting XI last week and got the desired result - a 2-1 win over Northern Spirit.

D'Avray said: "They played three up front last week and it worked, so they might do the same again."

The Glory is expected to name the side that beat the Spirit 3-1 in Sydney two weeks ago. Former Wolves star Matt Horsley returned to Glory training on Tuesday after a three-week absence but will not be considered.

D'Avray is hoping the Glory can continue the form it took into last weekend's bye. "It's important to pick up from where we left off because in the last two games I felt we were quite outstanding," he said.

The Glory beat Sydney United 2-0 before its win over the Spirit.

The Department of Sport and Recreation will reveal a proposal for a new administrative soccer structure to all WA clubs at Challenge Stadium at 9am today. The draft plan was developed during six months of discussions.

THE British-born Muslim convert accused of plotting to blow up Israeli diplomatic missions in Australia has made another brief appearance in a Perth court.

Jack Roche is charged with conspiring in 2000 to bomb the Israeli Embassy in Canberra and Israel's consulate in Sydney.

Roche, a 49-year-old Australian national, has indicated he plans to plead not guilty and was today expected to apply for bail.

However he did not do so because he did not yet have surety for bail, his lawyer Robert Mazza told the court.

"Mr Roche is not a man of means and does not have associates with means," Mr Mazza said.

The lawyer told the court he needed to take further instructions from Roche before a bail application could be made because he had only today received a draft statement of facts from the prosecution.

Roche was remanded in custody to reappear on December 11.

The wife of alleged terrorist Jack Roche said today her home had been raided by federal police for a second time, with a computer and phone numbers seized.

Roche's wife Afifah said the raid on her Perth home took place yesterday, when six officers rifled through her belongings.

Jack Roche, 49, is accused of planning terrorist attacks in Australia and is expected to apply for bail when he faces a Perth court today.

The English-born convert to Islam is facing charges of conspiracy to blow up Israeli missions in Canberra and Sydney.

Mrs Roche said she was shocked when the six officers arrived at her home yesterday.

"They want to check everything like before," she told ABC radio.

"Like the first time they were at my place. They want to check everything in my home because there weren't any guns.

"Before they check everything, why they come back again?"

Mrs Roche said unlike their first visit to her house, when officers took about 10 boxes full of items, they took only a few items yesterday.

"This time they take some piece of paper, like any phone number, and I have a ... small computer that I can't use and my husband never used too," she said.

After receiving death threats from fellow inmates, Roche has been moved to protective custody in Perth's Hakea Prison.

"They protect him. It's good place, no problem," Mrs Roche said.

"I think it's all right in this place."

A SUSPECTED suicide bomber thought to have detonated one of the Bali blasts was part of a group of five men who had formed a suicide pact, the Australian Federal Police (AFP) said today.

The five had formed the pact as a show of commitment to the alleged ringleader of the Bali bombings, Imam Samudra, AFP commissioner Mick Keelty said.

He said Indonesian and Australian police last night arrested one of the five, named Agus.

Agus is believed to have been involved in the robbery of 400 million rupiahs ($90,000) from a jewellery store in Serang that financed the October 12 attack in Bali.

Three others were in custody while the fifth man was believed to be the dead suicide bomber.

"One of the more significant arrests that we confirmed last night was a person called Agus," Mr Keelty told the Nine Network.

"Agus was one of four people the Indonesians were working to try and arrest.

"Agus plus the person Iqbal were a group of five who were committed to Samudra.

"These five were so committed to Samudra that they had in fact formed a suicide pact.

"Agus and three others who have been arrested and in fact are in custody now bring us closer to that group."

He said Iqbal was the man thought to have detonated the blast in Paddy's Bar which launched the attack on the Kuta nightclub strip in Bali.

Mr Keelty said DNA samples were obtained yesterday from Iqbal's mother and were on their way to Canberra for analysis.

"They'll be brought here to Canberra and we will actually process them here in Canberra and hopefully positively confirm that it was Iqbal who detonated the blast in Paddy's Bar," he said.

"The arrest yesterday of the last of that group brings to a closure the group we thought were the ones who had formed this suicide pact."

Mr Keelty said he was aware of reports terrorist group Jemaah Islamiah (JI) had formed links with al-Qaeda nine years ago and had sleeper terrorist cells around Asia.

But he said it was not the job of police to hypothesise about groups operating in the region.

"The work of the police ... in these type of incidents is to actually provide evidence of who's responsible and what they have in fact done," Mr Keelty said.

STUART MacGill fears the wicket-taking spinner is an endangered species and could become extinct unless there is a radical shift in the mindset of captains and coaches towards one-day cricket.

The New South Welshman insisted the traditional approach to limited overs cricket, from youth level upwards, had caused a worldwide malaise in producing top-class wicket-taking spinners.

With batsmen looking for quick runs in one-day games, the tendency was to use slow bowlers conservatively to stem the flow rather than go for the kill.

That, said MacGill, was the crux of the problem because from an early age, wrist-spinners in particular, were not given the necessary encouragement to go after wickets.

"I'm just not sure whether one-day cricket is doing spin bowlers any favours at all," he said.

"In one-day cricket, spin bowlers should try and take wickets. A wicket is sometimes the best way of slowing down the run rate."

He said further endangering the species was pressure on bowlers to perform against their natural instincts.

"If you are a wicket-taker you should try and take wickets in one-day cricket as well," MacGill said.

"If you are a bowler that takes wickets by keeping the runs down, then that's how you do it in the one day game. You don't want to change your game too much."

MacGill conceded the rules differ for the likes of Shane Warne and Muttiah Muralitharan, whose unique control and prodigious spin made them strike bowlers in their own right.

But he added Warne's dominance can create a false impression, leaving captains and coaches with less patience for more "mortal" spinners.

Instead, MacGill urged those officials to embrace the NSW approach.

"When I was playing (county cricket) for Nottinghamshire I was going at four an over. I was taking lots of wickets but for some people, four an over is a bit intimidating," he said.

"From the NSW point of view, the way we keep the runs down is by taking wickets.

"A wrist spinner goes for a few more runs than maybe his finger spinning partner, and it's really easy for a captain to take him off.

"Captains tend to be short of patience and not persevere with these guys because if a team gets to 40 overs with just three wickets down they can really hurt you."

He added: "Shane has done a lot of blokes an injustice because he's so good. We shouldn't be comparing ourselves to that.

"Not everybody can take a wicket every 10 overs and go for two and a half an over. I certainly can't do that."

MacGill's theory may go a long way to explaining the dearth of aggressive spinners the world over - bar the Muralitharans and Harbhajan Singhs, whose physical abnormalities allow them to impart extra spin on the ball.

Behind MacGill and Warne, only Nathan Hauritz is set to challenge for Australian honours, while England's current first choice, the injured Ashley Giles, is largely a container rather than aggressor.

"The major reason for Australian first-class cricketers getting through is that when you are young, the emphasis is not so much about one-day cricket," said MacGill, who will return to county cricket next year.

"In England it's all one-day cricket."

PAST AFL players have gone in to bat for their present-day colleagues and called for a cap on spiralling club costs.

The Combined Past Players Association today said it was disappointed current players had to cop the brunt of clubs' financial woes through profligate football administrations.

As Carlton tries to convince a group of its stars to accept massive pay cuts to help the club out of financial crisis, the association said spiralling club costs were to blame for the problem.

Figures today released by the AFL Players Association showed the cost of running an AFL club had risen to $24 million in 2002 - double that from in 1996 - with player payments less than a quarter of club expenditure.

Association spokesman Ron O'Dwyer, who played 40 games with Carlton and Collingwood from 1956-61, said a salary cap was needed to cut down clubs' spending.

"Player salaries are capped at around $6 million, I want to know how clubs can justify spending a further $18 million," he said.

"We're concerned that if this type of expenditure keeps on going up, in a few years time several teams will be bankrupt and our precious football competition that's been going for more than 100 years will be finished."

The association has a membership of more than 6,000 players and largely raises money to help support former players and country and suburban football clubs.

But O'Dwyer said yesterday's champions were compelled to defend their present-day colleagues.

"We don't begrudge players taking a reasonable share of income that the game generates, and at least we know there's a limit on what they can get," he said.

"But why can't something be done to curb the needless spending in other operations of clubs?"

CHEAP, north Queensland bananas could be back on Perth tables in the new year after the West Australian government agreed to reopen its markets.

North Queensland bananas were banned from WA in April 2001 after the exotic fungal disease sigatoka was detected in the Tully area, south of Cairns, which produces 60 per cent of Australia's bananas.

Other banana growing areas including NSW and the Northern Territory also closed their doors to the fruit to limit spread of the disease, but Sydney markets reopened a short time later.

Queensland Primary Industries Minister Henry Palaszczuk said today while there was an obvious benefit to Queensland to have the Perth market reopened, it also meant cheaper fruit for consumers in WA.

"The closure of this market not only affected far north Queensland banana growers, but WA consumers have also paid a high price - literally," he said in a statement.

"For instance in September this year, the wholesale price of cavendish bananas in Perth was up to $45 per carton. This is more than double the top price paid at the Rocklea markets in Brisbane in the same week."

A final risk analysis by the WA government recommends bananas from the Tully region be permitted into the Perth market, but would not be allowed in the state's north west to protect banana-producers in Carnarvon and the Ord River Irrigation area.

A SPECIAL Air Service (SAS) soldier today praised good training and being an Australian for getting him through some of the most intense fighting of the war on terror.

Signalman Martin Wallace and another unnamed SAS soldier, plus 80 US troops, landed by helicopter in the remote Shahi Kot Valley in Afghanistan in March - straight into an ambush by 1000 al-Qaeda fighters.

As a liaison officer, Signalman Wallace's job was to make sure US forces did not bomb other SAS units in the area.

But he spent much of the day calling in airstrikes and trying to stay alive.

Asked what got him through, he replied: "Being Australian had a fair bit to do with it.

"We have a proud tradition on the battlefield. We are the currently serving members and it is up to us to uphold that," he told reporters.

"The training we get certainly leaves you very well prepared for that sort of situation."

Despite intense fire from enemy rockets, mortars and machine guns, Signalman Wallace did his job extraordinarily well - such that he was today presented the Medal for Gallantry by Governor-General Peter Hollingworth in a ceremony at Government House.

It is the nation's third highest bravery award.

Two other SAS soldiers were also honoured today for their performance in Afghanistan.

Major Daniel McDaniel was presented the Distinguished Service Medal and Warrant Officer Mark Keily received the Order of Australia.

Four other SAS soldiers are to receive awards. They are Lieutenant Colonel Peter Gilmore and three others whose names have not been released for security reasons.

The SAS soldiers were taking part in Operation Anaconda, a major US-led operation to destroy al-Qaeda and Taliban forces in southern Afghanistan. It produced the toughest fighting of the war on terror.

"We landed early in the morning and walked straight into an ambush," Signalman Wallace said today.

"They had superior forces and we got extracted later that night. It was a pretty scary situation. There are estimates of up to 1000 on the al-Qaida side and around 80 for us.

"Probably the heaviest fighting was around last light when they managed to dominate both of the ridge lines and launched a ground assault from the north. By the end of that they had set up a machine gun in the south so they had us surrounded. That was probably the scariest part of the whole day."

Defence Minister Robert Hill said the three soldiers honoured today were representative of the whole SAS Regiment.

"They have done an extraordinarily good job, they have shown great courage and achieved their objectives and we are now able to withdraw the force from Afghanistan because of their success," he said.

DEPUTY Prime Minister John Anderson said today the government was planning to spend "big money" on drought assistance.

He said the government was now considering options well in excess of normal drought measures.

"This one looks like presenting us with the summer from hell, as it's drifting into next season," Mr Anderson told the John Laws radio program.

He said the government had no option but to plan for the drought continuing until next autumn, based on meteorological advice.

Mr Anderson and Prime Minister John Howard are visiting Cobar and Gunnedah in rural NSW today to see the impact of the drought first-hand.

"We are budgeting hundreds of millions of dollars," Mr Anderson said.

"We have to plan on the Met Office's best advice, which is that it won't break until autumn next year, and the only view we can take now is that we help provide some liquidity in these hard pressed communities, because it isn't only the farmers that are going to hurt.

"When (drought) becomes really exceptional the commonwealth comes in with the big guns and really big money, and that is what is now happening and we are looking at options even beyond the normal measures for helping in a crisis like this."

Mr Anderson defended Mr Howard against accusations he should have visited drought-affected areas earlier.

It is the first time this drought that Mr Howard has visited affected areas.

"He's the prime minister, he does head out into regional areas quite often," Mr Anderson said.

He also accused the NSW government of not doing enough to help drought-affected areas, saying it had recently spent $22 million on footpaths in Sydney.

AUSTRALIAN Formula One driver Mark Webber's first official stint with Jaguar spluttered to a halt after three laps.

While technical problems derailed his test session in Barcelona, Jaguar has been destabilised by the axing of team principal Niki Lauda.

It was a painful start for the British team, relieved by the performance of Webber's teammate, Antonio Pizzonia.

The young Brazilian went second quickest in an R3B, beaten only by the Ferrari of Luca Badoer.

Webber's day was ruined by technical troubles, but he was still confident about the start of the season.

"Im enjoying settling into working with a new crowd," Webber said.

"It's good to start work again, it feels like quite a while since Suzuka (the last race in Japan).

"This is what my job is all about."

Toyota's Olivier Panis was third quickest ahead of the British American Racing car of Anthony Davidson and Panis' fellow new signing at Toyota, Cristiano da Matta.

In Valencia, Williams star Juan Pablo Montoya topped the lap times after the first day of testing, beating McLaren's Kimi Raikkonen.

Lauda, a triple Formula One world champion, was fired after being accused of lacking the "technical depth" to run the Ford-owned team.

The Austrian took over 18 months ago from American Bobby Rahal and was Jaguar's fourth director in three seasons.

Jaguar finished seventh in this year's constructors' championship with a car that performed poorly and had consistent aerodynamic problems.

"Honestly, the decision did surprise me," Lauda said. "There was no criticism of the way I work, or whatever."

Tony Purnell, a chief executive heading a Ford research division, will handle the team until a replacement is named.

"If you don't get the technical bit right, it really doesn't matter much if you get everything else right," Ford vice president Richard Parry-Jones said.

"Niki Lauda, for whom I have enormous respect, does not have that technical depth."

Parry-Jones said he had offered Lauda a job as "special team adviser" to oversee driver selection.

He said he will consider the team's offer.

Meanwhile, Australian Paul Stoddart says the future for his Minardi team looks brighter this year than last season.

An engine deal with Ford-owned Cosworth is imminent, with Russian gas giant Gazprom providing significant sponsorship.

Stoddart said he had 66 per cent of his 2003 budget in place and still needed a naming rights sponsor but Minardi would be on the grid when the season starts in Melbourne on March 9.

AUSTRALIAN researchers will next year begin a world-first trial involving the intravenous injection of adult stem cells to treat heart disease.

Stem cell transplantation had emerged as a "very promising" treatment for heart failure, the Australian Health and Medical Research Congress in Melbourne was told.

"The heart and blood vessels have for a long time been thought to be irreplaceable, and that once they have been damaged they can't be replaced," cardiologist Peter Macdonald, of the Heart and Lung Transplant Unit at Sydney's St Vincent's Hospital and the Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute, said.

"There's now very clear evidence from a range of studies that the use of stem cells can actually regenerate damaged heart muscle and restore healthy muscle."

Prof Macdonald will play a central role in the trial, where stem cells will be injected into the veins of patients with acute angina, a condition caused by the narrowing of major blood vessels to the heart which can be a precursor to heart attack.

A Newcastle team earlier this year began a study of patients with angina who received an injection of stem cells directly into the heart.

Professor Macdonald's team will investigate injecting the stem cells into the veins.

"This intravenous approach is obviously much easier to do than direct injection into the heart muscle, and the easier any treatment is, the more broadly it can be applied," he said.

"If it can be given intravenously it doesn't have to be done in a highly specialised centre, it can be done in the local community hospital."

Prof Macdonald said the use of stem cells to treat heart failure could one day reduce the need for heart transplants, which are currently the last resort for patients with severely damaged hearts.

He said two studies by German researchers last month that came up with promising results for acute heart attacks in patients who had stem cells from their bone marrow reinjected into coronary arteries.

However, he said there were a number of hurdles to be overcome before the practice of stem cell therapy could be widely adopted for heart patients.

This included evidence the stem cells, in particular those isolated from muscles, could disturb electrical activity in the heart, resulting in potentially fatal, rhythm disturbances.

Next year's study would propel Australia to the forefront of international research in the area, Prof Macdonald said.

"Once we get this trial underway we'll be out there with the best in the world," he said.

AIR raid sirens sounded over the Iraqi capital today as international arms monitors began their first inspections under a strict new UN resolution.

The sirens usually mean an allied air strike somewhere in the vicinity, but there was no immediate word of a strike from Iraqi, US or British officials. A spokesman for the US Joint Task Force at the Prince Sultan air base outside Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, refused to comment.

A thin, white line of smoke could be seen in the sky, but its source was unclear. No explosions could be heard in central Baghdad.

Since the Gulf War, strikes have been rare on a near Baghdad, which is outside the no-fly zones that have in recent weeks seen several skirmishes between allied planes and Iraqi anti-aircraft units.

In February, in what at the time was the largest US-British attack in months, two dozen warplanes fired long-range missiles targeting radar systems to the south and north of the capital that had boosted Iraqi capabilities to threaten allied aircraft patrolling the no-fly zones, the US Defense Department said then. The official Iraqi News Agency said two people died and 20 were injured in the February raid.

The international inspectors who went to work in Baghdad this morning are trying to assess whether the Baghdad government is still committed to chemical, biological and nuclear weapons. The United States, steadily reinforcing its military might in the region, has warned it will disarm Iraq by force if the inspections fail, with or without international help.

The monitors are back after a four-year break under a mandate from the UN Security Council to test the Baghdad government's contention that it has no arsenals of weapons of mass destruction, or programs to build them.

International arms monitors, "fully conscious of the responsibility," headed out today on their first Iraq inspections, the start of a new round whose outcome could determine the future of peace in the Middle East.

The UN teams drove off from their headquarters on Baghdad's outskirts toward an undisclosed destination at 8:30am (local time). It was expected to be a site previously inspected and "neutralized" in the 1990s.

The international experts face months of difficult, detailed inspections of hundreds of Iraqi sites. They must try to assess whether the Baghdad government is still committed to chemical, biological and nuclear weapons. The United States, steadily reinforcing its military might in the region, has warned it will disarm Iraq by force if the inspections fail, with or without international help.

The monitors are back after a four-year break under a mandate from the UN Security Council to test the Baghdad government's contention that it has no arsenals of weapons of mass destruction, or programs to build them.

Earlier teams of UN experts, in seven years' work ending in 1998, destroyed large amounts of chemical and biological armaments and longer-range missiles forbidden to Iraq by UN resolutions after the Gulf War, in which an Iraqi invasion force was driven from Kuwait. The inspectors also dismantled Iraq's nuclear weapons program before it could build a bomb.

Chief UN inspector Hans Blix says, however, it's "an open question" whether the Iraqis retained some weapons - especially chemical - after the 1990s round. British and US leaders say they're sure Iraq has such arms, and suspect it also is rebuilding production programs.

A working group of 17 inspectors landed in Baghdad on Monday, first contingent of some 100 who will be operating in Iraq at any one time by year-end. More than 300 experts are available on the rosters of the two UN inspecting agencies - the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency and Blix's New York-based UN Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission, known as UNMOVIC.

The two local operational chiefs met with reporters in Baghdad on Tuesday, and said they have clear - if secret - game plans for the months of inspections ahead.

"We are fully conscious of the responsibility we have on our shoulders," said Jacques Baute of the nuclear watchdog agency.

The UN inspectors are to report to the Security Council by late January on their initial round of inspections, including whether the Iraqis have been fully cooperative.

The council has warned of "serious consequences" for Iraq if the Baghdad government is found in major violation of the UN disarmament demands.

Iraq must submit a declaration by Dec. 8 detailing any such weapons programs, as well as nuclear, chemical or biological programs it claims have peaceful purposes. The Iraqis complain that this is too sweeping, encompassing even plastic slippers produced by its petrochemical industry.

If the inspectors eventually certify that Iraq has cooperated fully with their disarmament work, UN resolutions call for the lifting of international economic sanctions imposed on Iraq after it invaded Kuwait in 1990.

The inspections were suspended in 1998 amid disputes over UN access to Iraqi sites and Iraqi complaints of American spying via the UN operation.

The UN teams say they are interested in up to 900 Iraqi sites in the new inspections round. They're expected to focus first on sites surveyed in the 1990s, to check on cameras and other equipment left behind to monitor activity. Later, they're expected to branch out to new sites - for example, suspected storage places for chemical weapons US intelligence alleges are still held by Iraq.

SIR Donald Bradman's unwillingness to pay players better and improve conditions was a major factor behind the World Series Cricket rebellion, according to former Australian captain Ian Chappell.

Chappell said the late Bradman's tightness with the Australian Cricket Board's money led as much to anything else to starting the breakaway series.

"Bradman to me has as much to do with the starting of World Series Cricket as anybody because I got the feeling Bradman treated the board money as though it was almost his own money," says Chappell on the ABC's "Cricket in the 70s, The Chappell Era" documentary to be shown tonight.

Even though Bradman, considered the greatest batsman of all-time, was no longer chairman of the ACB, Chappell said he dominated two board meetings Chappell attended to lobby for better conditions for cricketers.

At the time the ACB had gate receipts of up to $250,000 per Test while players received only $200 each.

Chappell reveals in the program he was approached three times during his Australian leadership from 1972 to 1975 to play privately funded exhibition matches outside the normal international program.

Chappell was coaxed out of retirement to lead Kerry Packer's breakaway cricket series from 1977 to 1979 as the TV boss sought to gain exclusive international coverage for his Nine Network, signing 55 players from all Test nations.

CARLTON would only consider offers by retired stars Stephen Silvagni and Craig Bradley to pull on the boots again as a short-term solution if it ran out of players, president Ian Collins said today.

Collins variously described reports the pair might return as "a ploy" or "encouragement" to the team.

But he said the Blues needed to slash player payments because of their dire salary cap problems, not hire more players.

Unless Carlton can convince its nine highest paid stars to take 25 per cent cuts next year, it will have to jettison up to 10 players to stay under the salary cap.

Collins admitted that if Bradley, 39, and Silvagni, 35, were to return and join 34-year-old former Kangaroos fullback Mick Martyn, the Blues would be fielding a "Dad's Army" in 2003.

"It would have to be a short-term issue if we run out of players," Collins told ABC radio.

"I don't think there's much left in any of those players ... we'd just be in a situation of trying to shore up the club's position if our list has to be shortened because of commitments through the salary cap."

Collins said that if the two Carlton Team of the Century members were to come back next year, it would be only on the base payment of $50,000.

"But there's some interesting concepts there, of Bradley and Silvagni - hopefully we could claim them and turn back the clock 10 years - that would be terrific," he said.

"I don't know whether that's a ploy or an offer or an encouragement to the players there, but we're not in a position to do that, as people would know.

"First of all, we've got to put in a summary of player payments early next month and if we're not under the cap we can't go in a draft, knowing that we've got some penalties to wear in that draft."

Nominations for the December 17 pre-season draft close on Tuesday.

Collins also said new coach Denis Pagan had not been asked to take a pay cut, but he did not rule out the proposition.

"We haven't asked him for a pay cut, we haven't even got to that part of the organisation," he said.

"We don't know at this point in time because we haven't got a budget for next year which can tell us exactly where our income and expenses match up.

"We can't say we won't but we can't say we will.

"But all we do know is we can't afford to pay what we're paying the players."

Collins described Pagan as "a breath of fresh air" at Carlton and said he had the full backing of the board.

"Denis Pagan is the coach of the Carlton Football Club for the next three years, and hopefully longer than that," Collins said.

The new president said Carlton was trying to focus on its playing list because of the looming pre-season draft deadline, while independent accountants were currently reviewing the club's financial position.

Silvagni is also a new member of the Carlton board.

RUUD Van Nistelrooy's two second-half goals in the space of 90 seconds lifted Manchester United to a 3-1 come-from-behind victory overnight in a Champions League Group D match at stubborn Swiss side Basel.

Defending champion Real Madrid had no such comeback, falling 1-0 at AC Milan on Andriy Shevchenko's strike in the 40th in a Group C clash featuring teams with 14 European Champions Cups between them.

In the other Group D match, Deportivo and Juventus played a 2-2 draw in Spain. In the other Group C game, Borussia Dortmund won 2-1 at Lokomotiv Moscow.

Basel came close to pulling off the upset of the tournament.

Stunned by Christian Gimenez's goal after just 31 seconds, Man United was headed for a shocking loss until Van Nistelrooy struck in the 62nd and 64th with Ole Gunnar Solskjaer delivering the clincher five minutes later.

The lightly regarded Swiss ousted Liverpool two weeks ago from Europe's most prestigious club tournament. This time Swiss coach Christian Gross came up short against his former English rivals, who played without a half dozen injured or suspended regulars.

Gross, the first to guide a Swiss team to the final 16 of the Champions League, was fired by English side Tottenham after 10 months at the helm four years ago amid constant criticism of his coaching.

Tuesday's four matches opened the six rounds of the second phase, which will cut the field of 16 to eight for the quarterfinals in the spring.

Tonight: Leverkusen vs Barcelona, Newcastle vs Inter Milan, Roma vs Arsenal, and Valencia vs Ajax.

In third-round, first-leg matches in the UEFA Cup, Hertha Berlin defeated Fulham 2-1 in Berlin on Facundo Sava's own goal. Stefan Beinlich scored for the Germans and Steve Marlet had Fulham's goal.

In the other match, Paris Saint-Germain defeated Boavista 2-1 in Paris with Ghanaian international Alex Nyarko and striker Fabrice Fiorese scoring for PSG. The remaining matches are tomorrow night.

AC Milan 1, Real Madrid 0

At Milan, Italy, Ukrainian striker Shevchenko's first-half goal was all AC Milan needed at the San Siro in a clash of two of Europe's most successful teams with 14 Champions League titles between them.

The big Milan forward took a perfect pass from Portuguese playmaker Manuel Rui Costa and set off downfield with two defenders in his wake. Arriving inside the area, Shevchenko slipped a shot past Madrid's charging goalkeeper Iker Casillas to send the sold-out crowd into celebration.

The three points put Milan even with Borussia Dortmund atop Group C following the German club's 2-1 win at Lokomotiv Moscow in the group match.

Lokomotiv Moscow 1, Borussia Dortmund 2

At Moscow, Czech international Jan Koller got the winner in the 43rd minute on a left-footed shot from 3 meters (yards). Defender Sergei Ignashevich opened the scoring for the Russian champions in the 31st minute, firing a shot past diving goalkeeper Lens Lehmann. Two minutes later, Dortmund midfielder Torsten Frings silenced the crowd of 15,000 by heading in an equalizer off a cross from the Czech international Tomas Rosicky.

Lokomotiv was fresh from winning its first national title in a playoff last week against crosstown rival CSKA.

Basel 1, Manchester United 3

At Basel, Switzerland, Christian Gimenez stunned Manchester United after only 31 seconds as he raised his leg in front of the box with the ball bounding off his knee and into the net. United started the game with at least six regulars missing including David Beckham, Roy Keane, Rio Ferdinand and Nicky Butt.

Man United stormed back on Van Nistelrooy's header in the 62nd minute off a perfect cross from Solksjaer with Van Nistelrooy equalizing again 90 seconds later on an acute-angle shot from six metres. Solksjaer made it 3-1 in the 69th on a 12m shot. Van Nistelrooy left with a minor thigh injury shortly after scoring his second.

Earlier this month, Basel scored after only two minutes in a 3-3 draw against Liverpool, which eliminated the four-time champions from this competition.

Deportivo 2, Juventus 2

At La Coruna, Spain, Alessandro Birindelli and Pavel Nedved scored as Juventus battled back from a two-goal deficit. The Italian left back struck in the 38th minute and the Czech midfielder leveled in the 57th to reply to early goals by Deportivo strikers Diego Tristan and Roy Makaay. Juventus, which had not beaten Deportivo in any of its four previous meetings, started dismally as the Spanish side struck twice in the first 11 minutes. Tristan scored in the ninth and Makaay made it 2-0 just two minutes later.

FEDERAL judges will get a 17 per cent pay rise with the top judge now earning nearly double the salary of Australia's prime minister.

The Remuneration Tribunal today said the judges' pay rise would be phased in over three years with the first 7 per cent rise backdated to July 1 this year.

The tribunal's decision gives Australia's highest paid federal judge, High Court Chief Justice Murray Gleeson, a current base salary of $308,100 with two 5 per cent rises still to come.

Prime Minister John Howard's basic salary is $158,080.

The decision followed a three-year review of federal judicial salaries, which included submissions from the government, senior judges, and legal groups.

In its decision, the tribunal cited higher workloads for federal judges, and the need to keep salaries high enough to tempt qualified lawyers to join the bench.

"The tribunal observed that the federal judiciary has managed and dealt with growing demands, increased workload, the complexity of issues and the responsibility to deliver decisions, often quickly in a context of growing public scrutiny and interest," the wage decision said.

"Lower level courts and tribunals are now dealing with the less complex, high volume caseload work. The superior courts are managing cases with higher levels of complexity and diversity.

"The tribunal was mindful of the important role remuneration plays in attracting and retaining high quality people to the judicial system." The pay rise is being introduced in three tranches of seven, five and five per cent over the next three years, with effect from 1 July 2002.

The decision affects the salaries of judges of the High Court, Federal Court, Family Court, Federal Magistrates' Service, Native Title Tribunal, Administrative Appeals Tribunal, and the Australian Law Reform Commission.

Federal Workplace Relations Minister Tony Abbott said the government had not yet decided whether to support the proposed judicial pay rise but would consider it carefully over the next few days.

"It's a recommendation which the government will carefully consider," Mr Abbott told reporters in Melbourne.

"Recommendations of the remuneration tribunal are disallowable instruments and they go before the parliament and I suppose it will be up to members of parliament and their political parties to make whatever decision they think is appropriate."

Mr Abbott said the 17 per cent increase did "seem like a big figure."

"I accept that when the general community is enjoying much more modest pay increases that this seems like quite a lot of money," he said.

" ... I also accept that the remuneration tribunal has done a very extensive study of judges' pay and believes that a work value case could be made out for this increase."

THE alleged field commander in last month's deadly Bali blasts has admitted an association with al-Qaida's pointman in south-east Asia, Indonesia's police chief said today.

Imam Samudra, 40, was arrested last Thursday and, according to police, has confessed to carrying out the Oct. 12 nightclub blasts on Bali that killed more than 190 people.

Earlier, an intelligence official said Samudra was acting on orders from Riduan Isamuddin, known as Hambali, the alleged operations chief of the al-Qaida linked south-east Asian terror group Jemaah Islamiyah.

"At the beginning he (Samudra) denied knowing Hambali, but when we showed him the evidence he finally admitted to knowing Hambali. He met him in Malaysia," National Police Chief Gen. Da'i Bachtiar said.

The revelation strengthens the assertion by intelligence officials both in Indonesia and other countries in the region that Jemaah Islamiyah was behind the Bali blasts, the worst terror act since the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks in the United States.

Hambali has been implicated in operations ranging from logistical support for the Sept. 11 hijackers to bombings in Indonesia and the Philippines.

Authorities are hoping that Samudra's capture will provide clues on the whereabouts of Hambali, who remains south-east Asia's most wanted man.

A DETECTIVE claimed yesterday it was ridiculous to suggest he returned bags of cannabis to a drug grower he had arrested and shared the profits with him.

Det-Sgt Ron Clarke, of the major crime unit, told the royal commission that while drug grower R1 became his informant after a drug bust in 1989, there was nothing improper about the arrangement.

Sgt Clarke said he had little memory of the events of September 6, 1989, but R1's claims that detectives pulled up and bagged hundreds of cannabis plants were pure fantasy.

He said he and former detective Peter Coombs seized 65 cannabis plants when they raided a property near Moore River at Gingin. He rejected suggestions he gave R1 permission to grow another crop.

R1 told the inquiry this week that after being held for several hours, he struck a deal with Sgt Clarke and Mr Coombs. On condition that others arrested in the bust were freed, R1 would reveal where he had hidden his cannabis and become an informant. He claimed he paid Sgt Clarke thousands of dollars from drug sale proceeds and was given a green light to grow another crop in 1990.

Sgt Clarke said diary notes showed R1 had started giving him information soon after the bust.

The arrangement continued until Sgt Clarke was transferred to Broome in 1990. R1 was then handled by someone else in the drug squad.

When counsel assisting, Ken Pettit SC, suggested R1 understood it was safe for him to grow drugs while being looked after by Sgt Clarke, the officer replied: "Definitely not."

He said it was ridiculous for R1 to claim that bags of cannabis had been returned to him to sell and denied ever receiving any money from R1 from the sale of cannabis.

"I should imagine you have done your homework in relation to my financial status," Sgt Clarke said.

Cross-examined by Mr Coombs, Sgt Clarke dismissed R1's claim that the detectives pulled up hundreds of cannabis plants that afternoon. It would have taken hours, he said.

Records showed that R1 was processed at the East Perth lockup at 6.45pm. He said that on R1's account, they would not have got back to Perth until about 9pm.

AUSTRALIA has withstood a determined challenge from Ireland to win its third straight game at the Meadow Lea Women's World Cup at the Perth Hockey Stadium yesterday.

Opportunist goals by captain Trini Powell and Karen Smith provided the platform for a hard-fought 2-1 win, giving Australia top spot in Pool B.

Any thoughts of a walkover proved wrong, with Ireland challenging the host nation from the start and maintaining the pressure through to the final few seconds of the game.

With excellent basics, Ireland challenged Australia all over the field but lacked the individual flair to pose a serious threat in the circle.

The Hockeyroos had players who could attack from anywhere. They became even more threatening in the goal circle during the second half of the game.

Neither the US in game one nor Spain in game two, were able to get past Australia's defence but Ireland's Jenny Burke finally penetrated, scoring Ireland's goal 25 minutes into the game.

Smith gave Australia the lead when she pounced on a penalty corner rebound 10 minutes into the first half.

Powell was at her brilliant best trapping the ball at the edge of the circle, with her back turned towards the goal, before swivelling around to blast the ball straight into the net on the reverse side four minutes later.

Germany has become the second World Cup contender in Pool A to lose a player early in the tournament, with confirmation yesterday that midfielder Tina Bachmann has torn the cruciate ligament in her left knee.

Bachmann was injured during her team's 3-1 loss to Korea on Tuesday night and is expected to return to Germany for surgery early next week.

Last year, she suffered a similar injury to her right knee and team manager Carole Meyer is confident Bachmann will make a full recovery.

"She was phenomenal with her recovery last time and I have no doubt she will be back playing again," Meyer said. "These things happen in sport - Argentina has lost Vanina Oneto with a broken finger."

In other Pool B action yesterday, Spain revived its hopes after losing to Australia in its last outing on Monday.

Taking on a fiercely determined South African outfit, Spain took an early lead before conceding a late goal to finish with a 3-1 win. South Africa also suffered a setback with Olympian Susan Webber breaking her right thumb.

Spain's Maria Ramagosa secured the early breakthrough, with substitute Raquel Huertas and Nuria Camon scoring in the 29th and 55th minutes respectively.

Pietie Coetzee scored for South Africa with 13 minutes to go.

Japan produced its second significant result by beating the US 2-1 in another Pool B game to keep its hopes of a semi-final berth alive.

PERHAPS rumours of player discontent with the administration are true. Or maybe it was just altitude sickness after their ascent to top spot.

Whatever, a strangely out-of-sorts Perth Wildcats were swatted off the top of the National Basketball League ladder by Sydney Kings last night.

A 28-point first half - the second lowest in the club's 20-year history - was the precursor to a 102-74 loss to the Kings, who replace the Wildcats at the top of the standings.

The players, bitter that 10th man Carmie Olowoyo did not travel with the team as an economy measure when a couple of members of the club's administration went to Sydney, had offered to pay some of his expenses.

The offer was refused and only nine players were sent to play the Kings and the third-placed Canberra Cannons, tomorrow.

Sydney went from Violet Crumble to Purple People Eaters last night. Its defence munched Perth's offence and harassed the Wildcats into 29 turnovers.

The trend was evident from the start, when Perth was put under intense pressure and could not get a shot from its first four trips.

The first encounter of the season between the Kings and Wildcats in Perth 17 days ago produced champagne basketball. Last night's game was more like vinegar: sour and harsh, especially for the visitors. Poor shooting from the Kings enabled Perth to trail by only three points at the first break, but thereafter Sydney treated Perth with contempt, frequently stealing the ball and racing down the court for easy baskets in an astonishing 18-2 spell.

At the interval, the Wildcats had managed just 28 points on 36 per cent shooting, having missed 12 of their 13 long-range attempts and committed 15 turnovers.

What must have been a stern half-time talk from coach Alan Black had absolutely no effect as the Kings stretched their lead to 62-31 midway through the third term. The spanking only eased slightly when Sydney coach Brian Goorjian decided to put his bench players into the action - and, with an eye on tomorrow's contest, Black did likewise.

Ricky Grace led all scorers with 22 points, of which 13 came in the third term, but it mattered little with the Wildcats shooting a horrible 36 per cent.

The other starters had shockers. Rob Feaster finished with eight points at 30 per cent, Tony Ronaldson seven points at 30 per cent and Brett Wheeler three points and five fouls in 16 minutes.

James Harvey's eight points came at a horrible 25 per cent but he did grab nine rebounds along with Matt Burston.

Matt Nielsen was the man who got Sydney rolling with 12 of his 19 points coming in the Kings' decisive second-quarter surge.

Chris Williams led the Kings with 20 points while Gary Boodnikoff finished with 18.

Black appeared to be in a state of shock as he assessed the match statistics.

"Committing 29 turnovers and letting Sydney score 39 points off them is not going to win too many games," he said.

PACEMAN Andy Bichel had done nothing wrong before being dropped for the third cricket Test against England, Australian captain Steve Waugh said today.

National selectors recalled fast bowler Brett Lee and dropped Bichel for the Ashes Test starting in Perth tomorrow.

Waugh said Lee's pace convinced selectors to play him on the bouncy WACA ground wicket, ending his two Tests as 12th man.

"The idea was to go for the extra pace at Perth - it is as simple as that," Waugh said.

"Andy has done nothing wrong at all, but we wanted Brett's extra pace here.

"He certainly bowled very quickly here a couple of years ago and the pace of the wicket definitely helped him."

Lee was dropped at the start of the series because of disappointing form but has since shone in two Pura Cup matches for NSW.

Waugh said Bichel was disappointed to lose his spot after taking wickets in Australia's crushing wins in the opening two Test matches.

Australian batsman Matthew Hayden has been passed fit to play as Australia tries to wrap its eighth consecutive Ashes series victory.

THE Heritage Council has given conditional support to a controversial redevelopment of the Raffles Hotel in Applecross.

Heritage Council development committee chairman Gerry Gauntlett said the hotel would benefit from Multiplex's proposed development because it would ensure the heritage-listed art deco building was preserved.

The Heritage Council did not make any recommendation on the proposed 17-storey residential tower, which has upset City of Melville residents who say it would be too tall and out of keeping with the area.

The council this month wrote to the City of Melville and the WA Planning Commission advising it supported the redevelopment in principle but wanted the owners to agree to several conditions, including a stringent heritage agreement.

Alfred Cove MLA Janet Woollard said she could not believe the council's decision. "What the Heritage Council have done in making a decision like this is they have basically sold out on heritage," she said.

One of the biggest concerns raised by the Heritage Council was the lack of space between the hotel and two apartment buildings, of four to six storeys.

Mr Gauntlett said he had asked developers to submit new plans for the apartment buildings to allow more space from the hotel.

Other conditions included a request that the owners make a heritage agreement - one of the strongest conservation controls available to the Heritage Council - to address future management, maintenance and ongoing conservation of the Raffles Hotel.

The owners also will be required to develop a conservation works schedule for the hotel, agree to retain and conserve all existing original fabric on the site and use an appropriate paint colour scheme.

Heritage Council acting director Stephen Carrick said the 17-storey tower proposal was not a major consideration.

"The conservation of the heritage-listed buildings is the primary focus in providing in-principle support. It is acknowledged that the associated development is allowing the conservation outcome for these culturally significant buildings," he said.

Multiplex's proposal includes 147 one, two and three-bedroom residential apartments. The 1937 hotel will be refurbished into a cafe and restaurant and its facade, internal staircase and fireplace preserved.

A PUBLIC backlash yesterday forced recreational fishing body Recfishwest to dump its planned push for a fishing licence fee.

Recfishwest abandoned its plan after the State Government extended its pre-election pledge of no recreational fishing fee in its first term of office.

Fisheries Minister Kim Chance said the Government would not introduce a recreational fishing licence "in this or any other term of office".

Recfishwest called this week for the introduction of an amateur licence fee of $20-$30 because it said the sector was badly underfunded and undermanaged.

Recfishwest chairman Norman Halse said the body would drop its public campaign for a fee as a result of the Government's response. "But given its stand, we believe it now has a moral responsibility to make up the difference," he said. "We are going to press them to do so.

"There is a real need for an extra $5 million now. The quality of recreational fishing in the metropolitan area is declining. A lot of species like dhufish and snapper are getting harder to catch."

Mr Chance said options for further funds included consolidated revenue, money from GST on fishing gear and boats or increases to existing licences applied to crayfish, marron, abalone, net fishing and South-West freshwater angling.

He said the depth of public opposition to the Recfishwest proposal reinforced Labor's no-fee policy.

"Mum and Dad taking the kids to drop a line in the water is one of our great family recreational activities," he said.

"The Gallop Government has no intention of charging for an activity that most people justifiably view as their right."

Mr Chance said he did not know the extent of extra funds needed to manage the recreational sector but to employ another eight inspectors would cost $1.2 million. More funds will also be needed for the changes certain to occur from the long-awaited Toohey inquiry, which include resource sharing between amateurs and the commercial sector and a framework for an integrated finfish management plan. Its report is due to be released shortly.

Fisheries WA says it spends 56,000 hours a year policing recreational fishing, the equivalent of 27 inspectors.

But many amateur fishers say they never see an inspector.

Fisheries recreational program manager Andrew Cribb said inspectors were used in a targeted way, focusing on marron, Shark Bay snapper, general policing in the Kimberley, illegal netting on the Swan River and around Perth, crayfish and abalone.

"We do the rest as we can," he said. "There are 640,000 recreational fishers based on our annual surveys who cast a line 10 million times a year."

Mr Cribb said the recreational Fisheries budget amounted to $11.3 million a year. Of this, $2.2 million was raised through licences and the balance came through government allocation.

AFTER enduring more than two years of gruelling treatment 11-year-old Sinead Murdoch was looking forward to doctors telling her she had won the battle against leukaemia.

Instead, news came that the little girl's condition had deteriorated and that she needed a bone marrow transplant. But four months later, Red Cross is yet to find a donor who can give Sinead the gift of life.

Sinead's mother Suellen said finding a marrow match had been difficult because the type needed was unusual.

Doctors had discovered Sinead's father had Asian heritage and Mrs Murdoch had a rare tissue type and so Sinead needed to find a donor who had a mix of both features.

Mrs Murdoch said she was worried that continued chemotherapy would take its toll on her daughter. But Sinead needed the treatment to keep her condition in remission.

"We are living on a time bomb," she said. "There has to be someone out there who is a bone marrow match for my daughter."

Mrs Murdoch said that even though a donor with Caucasian/Chinese origin was needed, people of all backgrounds should not hesitate to visit the Red Cross blood service to register as a donor.

"Please don't be deterred if you do not think you are of Chinese origin because you, like my husband, may be totally unaware of any Chinese ancestry," she said.

Mrs Murdoch said the test for possible donors involved only a simple blood test and anyone who was found to be a match would only be required to undergo a relatively painless procedure which involved a day in hospital.

"That is a small price to pay for saving my daughter's life," she said. "And if you are not a match for my child you may still be able to save someone else's life."

She urged people to register. "This Christmas you can give the greatest gift of all, the gift of life," she said. Bone marrow registry can be arranged by contacting the Red Cross on 13 14 95.

DETECTIVE turned civilian Shirlene Higgs remembered little of her role in the drug squad's Gingin raid of 1989 when she appeared before the police royal commission yesterday.

Her memory was not helped by her police journals showing she took part in the raid and a note that mentioned her pulling cannabis plants from the scene on September 6, 1989.

Neither could she visualise the drug baron whose property she had raided, though she had a vague recollection of him being an informant.

Her journal noted she met the informant three times in a fortnight after the raid but she could not remember why.

But Mrs Higgs, who quit the police service last year, had no trouble remembering what her former squad colleague Peter Coombs looked like when shown a photo of him as an undercover officer in 1989.

"Your hair is a good deal darker, longer. More portly. You have a beard," she said.

Mr Coombs, who was representing himself, asked: "More portly? Do you mean fatter?"

THIERRY Henry fired a hat-trick as Arsenal beat AS Roma 3-1 in the Champions League on Wednesday while Barcelona maintained its perfect record with a 2-1 win at last season's runner up, Bayer Leverkusen.

Inter Milan made it Italy 1 England 1 in the first series of second round matches by scoring three times in the first half for a 4-1 win at Newcastle. Uruguayan forward Alvaro Recoba scored the fourth only 27 seconds after entering the game as substitute.

In Wednesday's fourth game, Spanish and Dutch champions Valencia and Ajax Amsterdam tied 1-1. The results mean that Inter tops Group A ahead of Barcelona on goal difference and Arsenal is the clear leader atop Group B.

Roma, which has still not won any of its home games in this seasons competition, raced into the lead after just four minutes before its own fans at the Olympic stadium when Antonio Cassano gave Roma a fourth minute with a shot that went in off the inside of the post but

Henry replied in the sixth minute after taking a superb pass from Brazilian World Cup star Gilberto Silva. The Frenchman made it 2-1 in the 70th minute before firing in a 25-yard (metere) free kick five minutes later.

"It is wonderful to score a hat-trick, but the main thing is that we won the game," said Henry, who was signed by Arsenal from Italian club Juventus four seasons ago. "We have to keep our feet on the ground as this victory will mean nothing if we don't beat Valencia at Highbury in a fortnight."

Roma coach Fabio Capello said be believed Henry's team currently was the best team in Europe.

"Arsenal have proved they they are a very good team. They are united and have a great togetherness in the team and are so strong. They are the strongest team in Europe at the moment.

"If you play against a great team, you know they will punish any mistake and that is what Arsenal did to us."

Ajax went ahead through Swedish international Zlatan Ibrahimovic two minutes from the end before Miguel Angulo leveled to make sure that Valencia still has not lost a home game in the competition for 31 years.

In Group A, Bulgarian forward Dimitar Berbatov fire Leverkusen the lead six minutes before half time only for Argentine forward Javier Saviola to equalize three minutes into the second half and Dutch midfielder Marc Overmars to net Barca's winner two minutes from the end.

The victory, Barcelona's seventh in a row in this season's competition, takes some of the pressure off coach Louis van Gaal who is under fire from the fans with his team in ninth place in the Spanish league.

Hector Cuper's Inter, beaten in eight of his previous 10 visits to England, went ahead after just 65 seconds to stun 50,000 fans at St. James Park, when Dominico Morfeo turned in a cross by Inter captain Javier Zanetti.

The Italians were helped when Newcastle's Craig Bellamy, who scored Wales' winner against Italy in last month's Euro 2004 qualifying game, was sent off in the fifth minute for reacting to challenge by Marco Matterazi. It was the striker's second red card of the campaign after an ejection at Dynamo Kiev in the first round.

Argentina midfielder Matias Almeyda lashed home the second from 25 yards (meters) in the 35th after Hernan Crespo had turned a corner against the post and countryman Crespo tapped in a cross from Okan Buruk in first half injury time

Peruvian midfielder Nolberto Solano replied for Bobby Robson's Magpies only for Recoba to score with a trademark left-foot curler less than a minute after replacing Crespo.

"It was a horrible, cruel unforgettable, unforgivable night," Robson said. "We got off to the worst possible start against a crack side, full of clever, intelligent and quick players.

The highlights of Tuesday's games in Groups C and D were a 1-0 victory for five-time titlist AC Milan over nine-time winner and defending champion Real Madrid and Ruud van Nistelrooy's performance in Manchester United's come-from-behind 3-1 win at FC Basel.

Ukrainian striker Andriy Shevchenko scored the goal in Milan's victory at San Siro over a Madrid team missing Brazilian World Cup star Ronaldo.

The Italian league leader didn't go top of its group, however, because German champion Borussia Dortmund won 2-1 at Lokomotiv Moscow.

Basel, which already has ousted two British clubs, Scottish champion Glasgow Celtic, and English runner up Liverpool, went ahead after just 31 seconds at its St. Jakob-Park stadium.

But Van Nistelrooy scored twice in 90 seconds including an amazing solo effort from the tightest of angles, before setting up the third for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.

The result meant the Reds went top of Group D because Italian champion Juventus came from two goals down to tie 2-2 at Deportivo de La Coruna.

ISLAMIC extremists were responsible for a credible and specific threat against the Australian Embassy in Manila, Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said today.

Mr Downer described the information he had received regarding the terrorist attack on the embassy as a very credible and specific threat over the next few days.

"Islamic extremists, fundamentalist people," Mr Downer told the Nine Network today when asked who was responsible for the threat.

"We know a bit about them.

"I don't want to say too much about specifically who would mount the attack because that would get to the heart of the sort of intelligence that we have.

"And I don't want to say too much about the intelligence otherwise it destroys our sources, we won't get any more.

"But, nevertheless, it is quite specific and they are Islamic fundamentalists, extremists of the kind we're used to."

Mr Downer said after receiving the threat he decided the embassy must be closed.

"In those circumstances, I thought the only practical thing for us to do and the only safe thing for us to do was to close the embassy temporarily, keep the staff in Manila but not have them go to the actual embassy building themselves," he said.

Mr Downer said consular inquiries would be dealt with out of a local hotel room.

He said the threat extended only to the embassy and not to all Australians in Manila or the Philippines.

However, Mr Downer said the government had advised Australians to defer travel to the country.

"We've taken the precaution of advising Australians to defer non-essential travel to the Philippines but the threat is rather specific to the embassy," he said.

"But it underlines the danger to Westerners in the Philippines."

THE NRMA and Coles board in-fighting are like "paragons of public virtue" compared to the ructions within Soccer Australia, according to former board member Nick Greiner.

The former NSW premier, chairman Ian Knop, director Graeme Bowker, and chief executive Alan Vessey resigned last night from SA stating the board was opposed to vital reforms.

Greiner hit out at remaining board members last night saying "The board does not function as a respectable, creditable board", while Knop this morning said the group of four had their efforts for change stifled by current board members.

"We resigned because at the end of the day there is a group of us who is committed to absolute change and everyone who knows anything about this sports knows there has to be change," Knop told Channel 7's Sunrise.

Knop, who presided over the most tumultuous period of the game's history in his 16 month tenure, said the group of four also had concerns over corporate governance issues

"The four of us are very concerned about upholding corporate governance and working vigilantly to protect the interests of stakeholders' rights across the country for the good of the sport," Knop said.

"And I'm sad to say I don't think the board has the same passion as we do on the issue."

Knop said they had concerns over solvency issues regarding SA and that a board member was paid by the board for consultancy work.

The resignations have also cast doubts on whether the results of a government-sponsored review of the sport are likely to be accepted.

The review, likely to be completed by the middle of next year, is expected be critical of SA and recommend radical changes to the running of the code.

But the report may end up in a wastepaper basket with a bloc of at least four of the remaining SA board members against the inquiry.

Yet Knop said he hoped the Sports Commission report would finally help put soccer in Australia back on the front foot.

"I think we will not have progress unless this is done properly," he said.

"Somehow in the past Soccer Australia has always been on the backfoot, on a bandaid approach, and that's why we are at this point of time."

AUSTRALIANS face a tough Budget next May after Treasurer Peter Costello revealed yesterday the drought and a weak global economy had cut economic growth forecasts.

He said the Federal Government's mid-year economic review showed the growth forecasts were down from 3.75 per cent to 3 per cent this financial year.

The deepening drought would slash farm production by 17 per cent and the nation's current account would sink $33 billion into debt as its trade position worsened.

However, an upbeat Mr Costello said this year's Budget would still finish in surplus by $2.1 billion, buoyed by strong GST revenue and rising tax receipts from companies and the self-employed.

Income tax from companies is expected to rise $840 million and a further $779 million will be raised from self-employed people. The housing industry also continues to perform well above expectations.

The mid-year review, which assesses the economy's progress six months after the May Budget, also confirmed the Government's worst-kept secret - the sale of the remaining 50.1 per cent of Telstra would be delayed a year and would reap $1.3 billion less than planned.

"This is nearly all related to the drought which is gripping most of the country," Mr Costello said of the lower growth forecast.

But growth would rebound to 4 per cent next financial year if the world economy improved and the drought ended.

The upturn in the world economy had slowed because of increasing uncertainty. The crucial United States and Japanese economies continued to perform poorly.

Mr Costello said the Government had been able to meet unexpected crises such as the drought and the Bali tragedy and still keep the Budget in the black.

But the Budget measure economists regard as more accurate - the cash balance - was forecast to slip more than $700 million to a deficit of $548 million.

Mr Costello said he would keep a tight rein on new spending, with defence having the highest priority.

"My expectation is that as we go down to the expenditure review committee there will be some demands coming out of defence," he said. "Once they are taken into account, I don't believe that there will be much room."

The Opposition said the review confirmed Mr Costello was Australia's highest taxing and spending treasurer.

"His own Budget figures show he will continue to collect over 17 per cent of national income in income tax," Labor's treasury spokesman Bob McMullan said. "No other treasurer in Australia's history has done this."

Asked if he would introduce new taxes in the next Budget, Mr Costello said: "We don't have any plans in relation to those matters."

THE States and the Commonwealth have failed to agree on proposals to ban some types of handguns.

Federal Justice Minister Chris Ellison today said the commonwealth wanted to ban about 200 types of concealable handguns.

However, Senator Ellison said NSW, Queensland and South Australia opposed the proposal.

"Some of the States have reserved the option to look at no change," Senator Ellison said after today's Sydney meeting of the Australasian Police Ministers Council.

"That, we believe, is not a consideration," Senator Ellison said.

NSW Police Michael Costa said his State was pushing for graduated access to firearms.

Senator Ellison said the Commonwealth wanted a ban on handguns with a barrel less than 100 millimetres, those which fired more than ten shots and which were not within the .23 to .45 calibre range.

"Three States are saying they want a wider range of options included for discussion. We're saying we do not want the current situation to remain," Senator Ellison said.

The proposals will be discussed at a meeting between State premiers and Prime Minister John Howard and the next Council of Australian Governments (COAG) next week.

PERTH Glory chairman Nick Tana expects the club's youth team, Future Glory, which was withdrawn from the State Premier League this week, will return if proposed changes to soccer in Australia are successful.

Tana believes the soccer climate would improve dramatically under a proposal for a new-look National Soccer League, the restructuring of local administration and after the Australian Sports Commission completes its national inquiry into the game.

And despite the resignation of four Soccer Australia officials yesterday, Tana was confident the reform process would proceed.

Chairman Ian Knop, chief executive Alan Vessey, president Nick Greiner and commissioner Graeme Bowker resigned from their positions yesterday.

However, Tana said until the environment improved he would concentrate on matters more pressing than the Glory youth team.

"My energies are going to be better spent making sure we get the game into a position where it does have a future," he said.

"One of the hardest decisions I've made was to put Future Glory on hold - and that's all we've done. We haven't terminated it.

"What form it takes down the track I don't know but ultimately we have to be involved."

The Future's withdrawal from the State League will save the club about $250,000, although the Glory will continue to indefinitely run its program for 11 to 14-year-olds.

Tana has joined a working committee set up to investigate ways of implementing a reformed and autonomous NSL, which he, like most in the soccer community, sees as essential to the code's future.

"It's not at the point where it's the last chance but it's definitely a critical time for the future of the game, especially the national league," he said.

"There's no such thing as a last chance because the game has already shown that it can keep going. We want the best for the game and we want to forge ahead."

The Australian Professional Footballers Association, the players' union, has spent about $300,000 researching a new model and expects to release information on an Australian Premier League after its annual general meeting next Thursday.

The Glory is open to the PFA's proposal but is also committed to working with the other clubs to find the most suitable model for a reformed league.

"We don't want to continue for the sake of continuing," Tana said.

"The model or the format will determine whether the game will race ahead or limp ahead.

"We want prosperity, growth, we want to be out there in the mainstream, we want career paths, we want dynamism and everything to go 100 miles an hour. And that's what this restructure should do."

He also believed the acceptance of a new proposal to streamline the structure of WA soccer, which has been helped by the Department of Sport and Recreation, was essential to the development of the game. "It's fundamental to the game's future," he said.

AUSTRALIA'S threat level should be increased to high as a result of a serious and ongoing terrorist threat, the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) said today.

"The government's formal threat assessment is at medium and we are suggesting it should be at high," ASPI director Hugh White said, adding the threat could last four years.

"We now know that our environment is a lot more dangerous than we thought (even after September 11)."

ASPI is funded by the federal government as an independent security and defence thinktank. It released its post-Bali 2002 Strategic Assessment today.

Mr White said the government had been correct in issuing a general terrorist alert, and in planning a television campaign to alert Australians to terrorist threats.

"This is a pretty serious situation, this is not business as usual for the lucky country," Mr White told reporters.

But he cautioned against unnecessary alarm.

"(The terrorist threat) is not a reason to stay indoors and lock the flywire screen and not go out all summer," he said.

Mr White said Australia was already well prepared to deal with the terrorist threat, although more needed to be done to coordinate the national effort.

"Australia is not a soft target for terrorists," he said.

ASPI program director Aldo Borgu said Australians had to shake off their complacency.

"The fact is we face an increased threat of terrorism. That said, there's no need to go overboard and panic. As individuals, we still face a greater threat getting knocked over by a car crossing the road," he said.

CRICKET officials were red-faced after a record crowd had a long wait to get into the WACA Ground for yesterday's third Ashes Test.

WACA member Michael Telling left in disgust after queuing for more than an hour and a half at the members' entrance without getting anywhere near the gates.

He watched the match at home on television.

He has vowed never to set foot in the WACA again and wants a refund of the $6000 he paid for lifetime membership in 1996.

"I reckon I also paid another $3000 for the whole three days, if you include meals in advance and 10 extra seats on each day for family and friends," he said.

Mr Telling said he was a devoted cricket fan who just wanted value for money. "As a member, apart from the carparking and an extra guest, I get absolutely nothing," he said.

"I don't want to be in a director's box, but even a seat in the outer would do, knowing it was there for me if I turned up five minutes late."

Alfred Cove pensioner Bruce, 75, who did not wish his surname used, said he had also left the ground in disgust. He had paid an annual membership at the discount rate of $180 but was not able to find a seat at lunchtime yesterday. He said the event was a debacle.

He claimed about 40 other members who could not get seats left the ground at the same time.

"You would think the WACA would look after their members who are supporting them year after year," he said.

WACA chief executive Kath White acknowledged there had been some queues but said they had moved fairly quickly. Members' bags were checked for the first time, and the WACA would look at ways to speed up the process today.

She said seats for members had been available all day, but people did have to look for them. Some members might not have been familiar with the new layout after the recent refurbishment of the ground.

She said the WACA would contact Mr Telling to try to resolve his complaints.

Ms White confirmed there were about 10,000 members and guests eligible to access the ground, but seating was available for only 8000. But it was rare for all members and guests to come to the ground at the same time.

She blamed booking agency Ticketmaster 7 for delays which meant about 100 people who had paid for tickets in advance were not able to collect them in time to see the first ball.

"They let us down badly and were very disorganised," she said.

But Ticketmaster 7 managing director Maria O'Connor said WACA staff had organised and manned the booths where the tickets were collected.

A RECORD crowd of 22,523 watched Australia press home its 2-0 series advantage in the third Test against England at the WACA Ground yesterday.

A 6000-strong Barmy Army contingent was in good voice with trademark St George flags prominent.

But that did not help their side as England was blasted out for 185 by Australian fast bowlers Brett Lee, Glenn McGrath and Jason Gillespie.

The crowd was almost 6000 more than the previous high mark of 16,849 set on December 1, 2000, when Australia played the West Indies.

It also augurs well for a record aggregate Test attendance, the previous best being 84,142 for the game against England in December 1970. The game ushered in a new era at WA's home of cricket with a $12.3 million upgrade unveiled officially.

An executive lounge named after cricket legend Sir Donald Bradman was opened in the Lillee Marsh stand at the tea break. Bradman's son, John, a guest for the opening, said his father had a high interest in the ground and WA cricket.

He said Sir Donald made a concerted effort to play his last game on Australian soil in Perth despite a serious rib injury.

"His interest in WA cricket was highlighted in 1948 when he played at the WACA in the last match before the team left Australia on his final tour of the UK," Mr Bradman said.

"His deliberate decision to play, despite a painful rib injury, was an intended compliment to the people of Western Australia.

"It is of real significance that he wanted it recorded that he made what he called his last serious appearance in first-class cricket in his own country on the WACA Ground."

The WACA executive committee said Sir Donald's determined attempt to play in that match was a significant factor in deciding to name the room after cricket's finest player.

A GOLDFIELDS man has spent more than two years in prison on an indefinite jail order after being found incapable of standing trial because of years of chronic substance abuse.

The habitual sniffer, who has been in and out of institutions since he was 15, is in Casuarina Prison while authorities struggle with his situation.

The Aboriginal Legal Service says the case is an injustice which highlights the need for the State Government to commit resources to solve the community's substance abuse problems.

The man became known as the ice-cream boy in 1995, prompting community outcry after he was sent to a juvenile detention facility on remand for stealing a $1.90 ice-cream.

Not identified for legal reasons, he was charged with robbery after allegedly striking a woman in a supermarket carpark in September 1999 and taking her cigarettes. After six months in custody on remand, the man was deemed incapable of pleading to the charge because of his untreatable and volatile substance-induced dementia. In April 2000, District Court Judge Bill Groves jailed him indefinitely under the Mentally Impaired Defendants Act.

Judge Groves said the man was likely to reoffend if left unsupervised. But Judge Groves was concerned he should not be left languishing in prison and ordered the case be reviewed within five days.

It is understood the man spent more than 12 months in custody before being sent to the Blackstone community on a release order in about July last year. But he failed to take medication and slipped back into sniffing. He was returned to prison about five months later and has since been charged with assaulting a prison officer. It is understood a new release plan is being prepared.

ALS Goldfields-based court officer Murray Stubbs said jail was not the solution for the man, who needed to be helped and accepted into an Aboriginal community.

ALS chief executive Dennis Eggington said the case was disturbing, highlighting substance abuse as a social problem that could not be dealt with by the legal system.

Warburton community adviser Damian McLean said jail was not appropriate, but there were concerns about potentially violent offenders being released to remote communities.

The Justice Department and Attorney-General Jim McGinty would not comment yesterday.

WA BROTHEL queen Mary-Anne Kenworthy faces jail and the loss of her multi- million dollar sex business after vice squad detectives raided her brothel in Perth yesterday.

She was charged with keeping premises for the purpose of prostitution, which carries up to three years jail.

The raid on the publicity-seeking, self-confessed madam is the vice squad's first high-profile charge since Police Commissioner Barry Matthews announced the abandonment of the containment policy two years ago.

The informal policy allowed brothels to operate illegally under the nose of police who accepted it for fear that charges would send the sex industry underground and into the grip of organised crime.

Ms Kenworthy claimed yesterday the charge came after a confrontation with two vice squad officers this week. She beat a charge of running a brothel five years ago.

Her manager, Warren George, was charged with managing premises for the purposes of prostitution.

Police Minister Michelle Roberts said she was surprised by the charges. The sex industry needed to be regulated by law rather than by informal arrangements maintained by the police vice squad, she said.

Police defended their actions, saying they previously did not have enough evidence to charge Ms Kenworthy.



MARY-ANNE Kenworthy's future in the sex industry will rest heavily on the evidence of two female vice squad detectives.

The pair met Ms Kenworthy at her Langtrees brothel in Victoria Park this week armed with a photograph of a person wanted for questioning by police.

But the madam took exception to the two officers and told them to sit down before allegedly launching into a tirade.

It will be alleged that during the tirade, Ms Kenworthy admitted she kept the premises for prostitution.

The officers returned to detectives headquarters at Curtin House in Northbridge and reported the incident to their boss and word quickly rose through to senior commissioned officers who ordered charges be laid against WA's best-known madam.

Ms Kenworthy said the police officers were being high-handed and intimidating.

"I did give them a bit of lip the other day. I said, 'don't come in here with that sort of attitude unless you have a search warrant'," she said.

Officers returned with a warrant yesterday morning, raiding the Burswood Road brothel about 8am. There was at least one client in the brothel at the time and sex workers were forced out while the search was done.

Key evidence was seized, including a price list of services.

Assistant Commissioner (crime) Mel Hay said Ms Kenworthy had always maintained she was a brothel madam and would be prosecuted as one. There had been complaints about her business, he said.

If the State Government's prostitution reforms are passed, Ms Kenworthy may have to apply for a licence to run her brothels. Police sources said they would almost certainly oppose her application if she was convicted of the charge laid yesterday.

Police sources said despite widespread advertising of brothels and their services, brothel managers often claimed they were maintaining premises for massages.

"While the front desk claims it is all massages, what happens between the girls and the clients in the private rooms is private business," a police source said.

"The girl could not be prosecuted because she was not keeping the premises and it was difficult to prove the manager was knowingly keeping the premises for prostitution."

Ms Kenworthy said they had always had evidence of her keeping brothels.

"I mean, I have been keeping brothels for 18 years and I keep very good brothels. I think that's pretty piss-poor with the work I have put into the community and the industry."

A JUDGE has put restrictions on a Perth mother who smokes in the family home in a bid to protect her 10-year-old son from second-hand cigarette smoke.

The boy's father took the matter to the Family Court after his son complained he did not want to return to the family home because his mother and grandfather, also a resident, were heavy smokers.

The mother and father were separated. At the time of the initial complaint in April, the mother and grandfather admitted to each smoking about 40 cigarettes a day.

Justice Carolyn Martin issued an injunction last month banning the mother and grandfather from smoking in any vehicle in which they travelled with the child or in any house or other indoor area or confined space when the boy was present or expected to be present within one hour.

She ruled the mother could smoke in the lounge room after the boy was in bed provided his bedroom door was closed and an external lounge room door was left open.

She also said the mother and grandfather should prevent visitors to their home from smoking inside if the boy was present or expected to be present within one hour.

Justice Martin said while such orders would be difficult to enforce, she was satisfied the mother had agreed to modify her behaviour and had already reduced her smoking to 20 cigarettes a day. The grandfather had given up.

She said if the mother was smoking outside she should allow some time before going inside so that there was time for the smoke to dissipate.

"However I am concerned about children being exposed to any risk and I would exhort and encourage the mother to give up smoking entirely," she said.

The ruling is believed to be the first of its kind in Australia.

Australian Council on Smoking and Health director Ron Edwards predicted similar injunctions would become commonplace.

"I think we will see more than a ripple from this," he said. "We have been contacted before by families in relation to this sort of issue and I expect there will be more cases to follow."

Heart Foundation chief executive Maurice Swanson said the finding probably had implications for other situations where people were forced to inhale other people's smoke.

"It just says that society is much less tolerant now of any situation which puts the health of children at risk and it probably won't be long before the community takes a very dim view of adults smoking in cars when children are present.

"Whether that will extend to legislation is probably now open for debate."

In evidence to the court, paediatrician Peter Le Souef said there was no minimum threshold at which the amount of cigarette smoke in a house may be considered to be of no risk.

The health risks from passive smoking were increased respiratory symptoms, ear problems, asthma and a decrease in lung growth and function.

THEY were an exclusive pocket of Perth Muslims, secret disciples of radical cleric Abu Bakar Bashir, and they were convinced that a true Islamic superstate would one day emerge from the volatile political landscape of South-East Asia.

The WA cell of Jemaah Islamiyah boasted the most dedicated religious acolytes in the country.

The West Australian understands that the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation has been told:


That JI members throughout Australia had hatched a plan to flee to Indonesia, Yemen or Libya if they were in danger of being caught or exposed as JI operatives.


Curtin University students were identified as prime recruits because many of them were "young, pliable thinkers".


The internet was used by JI world wide as an aggressive tool to lure young, impressionable and homesick Muslims into the fold.


JI carried out numerous training exercises at properties in WA's South-West and the Blue Mountains near Sydney, despite denials by landowners and under the noses of local authorities.


The WA cell splintered after English-born convert Jack Roche, now under arrest, returned from Afghanistan and refused to share with Abdul Rahim Ayub, the alleged Australian leader of JI and a religious teacher at Bentley's al-Hidayah Islamic School, money given to him to fund the Australian cause.

A clearer picture is now emerging about the modus operandi of JI in Australia, how it was funded and how it survived for as long as it did. It seems that while much of the initial focus post-September 11 was on Sydney because of the sheer number of Muslims scattered throughout Australia's biggest city in suburbs such as Lakemba, it seems the nucleus of JI was Perth-based.

It has now been established that JI spiritual leaders Abu Bakar Bashir and Abdullah Sungkar used forged Malaysian passports to visit Australia and preach their fiery brand of Islam in numerous mosques in Sydney and Melbourne throughout the late 1990s.

Mr Sungkar is now dead, thanks to a weak heart, but Mr Bashir - under arrest in Indonesia for numerous bombings throughout South-East Asia and most recently linked to the Bali atrocity which killed 87 Australians and 100 others - has become to Islamic extremists a regional equivalent of Osama bin Laden.

Five Bashir followers were in Perth and had formed a secretive circle to actively recruit and preach their leader's message - Jack Roche, now facing charges of conspiring to blow up Israeli targets in Sydney and Canberra; David Suparta, a Chinese Indonesian convert who told the Refugee Review Tribunal in 1999 that he had been the Australian leader of an affiliated Islamic group, the NII; Jan Herbert, also known as Taufik Abdat, self-confessed member of JI and a Bashir acolyte; and twins Abdul Rahim Ayub, a teacher, and Abdur Rahman Ayub, who reportedly fought against the brutal but failed Soviet occupation of Afghanistan during the 1980s.

The twins and Mr Suparta and Mr Herbert all lived in Sydney before moving across the Nullarbor throughout the mid to late 1990s after securing permanent Australian residency. Mr Roche moved here two years ago. While admitting they attended Mr Bashir's Sydney lectures, they all deny being part of any terrorist network.

Mr Roche has reportedly told ASIO that on numerous occasions a group of WA Muslims travelled to a property at Myalup, 150km south of Perth, which was owned by a man called John Bennett, who took the name John Musa after converting to Islam more than two decades ago. There they underwent paramilitary training. Mr Bennett denies this but information given to The West Australian from a separate source corroborates Mr Roche's claims.

The source claimed that between six and 20 men regularly shot at each other with more than 20 paint-ball guns bought by the group and taken to the property in a trailer. Authorities have been told that the group slept under the stars and were often woken in the middle of the night by men with torches before being taken on long marches. Those who could not keep up or disobeyed any directive were tied to a tree where they were often left for hours.

ASIO has been told that similar training camps were also run on properties in the Blue Mountains, west of Sydney.

JI was active in recruiting. Abdul Rahim Ayub, the teacher and board member of the al-Hidayah Islamic School in Bentley, spoke regularly to Curtin University students, usually after evening prayers. Religious instruction was also part of the plan, according to the insider.

Weekly meetings took place at different households around suburban Perth where prayer and food was served. Contentious excerpts of the Koran were twisted to suit the argument which often ended up gently anti-Western, but not blatantly so. Not enough to put mainstream Muslims off their halal food.

The internet also was used to swing the young around to radical thinking. Chat rooms were monitored by JI and because most messages were written in Bahasa Indonesia, Australian authorities were considered by the group to be oblivious to their meaning, if not their existence.

Things changed dramatically for the group post-September 11. ASIO has been told that while the group knew "something was about to happen", they had no idea that al-Qaida had planned the devastating attack on the World Trade Center twin towers. Paranoia set in and the group took extra precautions, such as meeting in parks and open spaces for fear of being taped.

But it did not stop group members travelling extensively between Australia, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Pakistan and, in Mr Roche's case, Afghanistan.

They even worked out an escape plan, according to the source, to flee to three countries where they could "disappear" - Indonesia, Libya and Yemen, the ancestral home of bin Laden - if things turned nasty or their lives were threatened. Abdul Rahim is now believed to be somewhere in Indonesia after leaving the country before his Thornlie home was raided by ASIO on October 30.

But the Perth group splintered when Mr Roche, having returned from Afghanistan where he saw the elusive bin Laden, brought back a wad of US currency, believed to be about $6000, to bolster the Australian cell. Sources say he refused to hand it over to Abdul Rahim who wanted his cut and instead whittled it away.

The pair fell out and did not speak for more than 18 months, reconciling only months before Mr Roche was arrested.

MORE than $500,000 from national and WA appeals has been distributed to West Australians affected by the Bali bombings.

WA Red Cross spokeswoman Lisbeth Lord said 153 people had received assistance packages from the WA office. Some burns victims had individually received up to $35,000.

Air-conditioning, carers and adapted showers and bed fittings for burns victims are among the items Red Cross is financing.

Ms Lord said some people were just making their first contact.

"I think there was initial distress and people were just cruising," Ms Lord said. "Some people who thought they were perfectly fine are now realising they are not doing very well."

Red Cross has seven assistance packages available over the next three months for families affected by the tragedy. They include financial, health care, travel and accommodation, funeral, legal and financial planning, emergency and advocacy assistance.

Nationally, $1.3 million has been distributed to families from the appeal, which peaked at more than $13.5 million.

Tomorrow there is an Australian Bali Recovery Concert at the Perth Esplanade with gold coin donations going to the appeal.

The WA Bali casualties appeal, activated through the Lord Mayor's Distress Relief Fund, stands at $550,000.

In Jakarta yesterday, Indonesia's Defence Minister became the first official to implicate detained Muslim cleric Abu Bakar Bashir in the bombings.

Matori Abdul Jalil said Mr Bashir, the spiritual leader of the regional al-Qaida-linked terror group Jemaah Islamiyah, was closely associated with the three top suspects in the Bali blasts and therefore must be involved.

Prime Minister John Howard said yesterday Australians were depressed in the wake of the bombings and in the shadow of further terrorism warnings but must try to rally and retrieve their carefree outlook.

He called on the nation to enjoy Christmas and the holiday season.

Mr Howard said he would be taking holidays in January but remaining in Sydney, ready to return to work "within minutes" if required.

This week, WA's first support group for Bali victims was launched after people said they wanted to meet others who had been through the same experiences.

Anglicare's Kinway Relationship service supervisor Sheena Edwards said people had felt isolated once they returned to Australia and sharing experiences was a useful way to deal with trauma.

For more information call Kinway on 9263 2050.

BIG is certainly better when it comes to inner-city living, judging by the sale of a penthouse in trendy King Street for a cool $1.17 million.

With 650sq m floor area, the penthouse in the 1920s Wills Building has as much living space as three average suburban homes or six standard city apartments. Its auction sale last weekend brought $30,000 less than penthouses in the Kingsgate building on St Georges Terrace.

The successful bidders are a Coolbinia family of five who plan to fit out the apartment as a luxurious inner-city home, including a gym, spa, sauna and rooftop conservatory.

The new owner, who wanted to be known only as Nick, said he had been looking for a city apartment for almost five years but until now had not found anything big enough at the right price.

The Wills Building had fitted all of his criteria - it was within walking distance of CBD and Northbridge attractions and shops, had a solid structure and lots of space.

Nick's attitude is typical of Perth homebuyers who trade in a big house in the suburbs for an inner-city lifestyle, according to real estate agents.

Perth buyers typically want a bigger living area than those in Sydney or Melbourne and also prefer apartments with balconies and some outdoor living space so they can continue to have barbecues and outdoor dinner parties.

BUSINESSMAN Warren Anderson's decade-long legal campaign to recover more than $50 million in alleged losses from WA Inc dealings is in tatters.

Supreme Court Master Craig Sanderson yesterday ruled there had been too many delays in litigation by Mr Anderson's Tipperary Developments Pty Ltd and its case should be thrown out.

"This action should be consigned to history's dustbin," said Master Sanderson, who is empowered by the court to make decisions on issues, including cases being struck out because of delays.

His decision comes after six years of delays in Mr Anderson filing a report about the financial state of Laurie Connell's merchant bank Rothwells in the lead-up to a second State government-led bailout of the financier in March 1988.

Mr Anderson put $50 million into the Rothwells bailout as part of a complex series of business dealings related to the Central Park and Westralia Square development sites.

He got only $22.7 million back after Rothwells collapsed in November 1988.

Mr Anderson launched legal action in 1992 to recover his losses plus damages relating to alleged guarantees provided by former premier Peter Dowding and top government officials.

The Government launched a counter-claim against Mr Anderson. It defended the action on the basis that it had struck subsequent settlements with him covering Central Park, Westralia Square and the liability of various government officers and agencies for the $50 million.

From 1996 to late last year, Mr Anderson had difficulty finding a corporate insolvency firm which could compile a report on Rothwells and then paying the fees demanded by West Perth accounting firm Norgard Clohessy. He has since overcome his cash difficulties.

Attorney-General Jim McGinty decided late last year to apply to court to throw out Mr Anderson's claim.

Master Sanderson said Tipperary should have known from the start the financial solvency of Rothwells would be a central issue in the case and it should have moved promptly to ensure a report was available.

There was little doubt such a report was expensive but someone who started significant litigation should expect heavy costs.

Mr Sanderson said some delays were inevitable but Tipperary's delays were lengthy.

"Simply to plead poverty is not an answer," he said.

Mr Anderson could not be contacted last night.

He has three weeks to lodge an appeal.

The decision is subject to the State Government withdrawing its counterclaim, something it had promised to do once the appeal period expired.

Mr McGinty said he was delighted with the decision and believed it relieved WA taxpayers of a contingent liability exceeding $50 million.