Music
Good evening and welcome. This is Sevens News World. I'm Tony Gordon.
In our lead story tonight, Queensland racing minister Russ Hins will recommend
to State Cabinet
that TAB Chairman Sir Edward Lyons be removed from office.
Mr Hins' recommendation follows two emergency meetings of the board on
Friday
and this afternoon to discuss allegations of impropriety
by a board member. A special cabinet meeting is expected to be called on
Wednesday
to decide Sir Edward's fate. Board members arrived at the TAB's Brisbane
headquarters
for the second emergency meeting in a week. Some through the front door,
others like Chairman Sir Edward Lyons opted to enter underneath the building.
Deputy opposition leader Tom Burns had told Parliament that a senior board
member
had directed sums of up to ten thousand dollars be paid out against his
telephone betting account.
The boards understood on Friday to have identified Sir Edward Lyons
as the alleged senior member. An investigation by administrative staff
was set in train.
Today racing minister Russ Hins arrived to learn the outcome of the long meeting.
Later Mr Hins read out a statement. Media questions were not allowed.
I have been informed today by the board of the TAB officially
that it is their wish that the chairman of the board Sir Edward Lyons be removed
from that office.
Mr Hins said the board made its decision by a vote of seven to three.
He said the cabinet meeting would be called immediately and he placed all
documents in his possession before it.
Further I will recommend that the Attorney General and the Minister for
Justice
be asked to forward to the Director of Public Prosecutions for Investigation
all documents.
Having particular regard to the provisions of section 391
two in brackets F in brackets of the criminal code was reference to stealing.
The minister said there was evidence to suggest that substantial pressure
had been put on TAB staff members so he'd recommend to cabinet no action be
taken against them.
Before the decision was made Premier Sir Joe Bealke Peterson
stopped short of giving Sir Edward his usual unqualified support.
Let's wait and see what the outcome of these things are.
And as I said cabinet if you can get that word in your head cabinet
will make a decision what happens. Petrol prices will rise by nearly four cents a
litre
next month. Federal cabinet has decided to pursue the import parity pricing
policy
and pass on higher prices from May the 1st.
The plunging straight in dollar is the main reason for the big hike.
Federal cabinet decided to retain the government's import parity oil pricing
policy
which means from next month motorists will pay an extra three point nine cents
a litre for petrol.
It's the second price hike this year but resources and energy minister Gareth
Evans
says Australia's petrol is still one of the cheapest in the world.
Senator Evans says the falling Australian dollar is the reason for the
rise.
In the event of a recovery in the Australian dollar
there will of course be consequent reduction
in petroleum prices. But the extra revenue from today's decision won't mean
extra government spending.
The Prime Minister announced it would be a tough mini budget in May
outlining at least one billion dollars worth of spending cuts
to keep the economic trilogy intact. Mr Hawke says the depreciation of the
Australian dollar is an excellent opportunity to boost production
and employment. Benefits he says which mustn't be wasted
through a new inflationary cycle. Australia's first
incompatible bone marrow transplant will be attempted in Sydney tomorrow
in a bid to save the life of two-year-old Ben Towns.
The medical team at Prince of Wales Children's Hospital will use a new
technique
pioneered by US Cancer Clinics to transplant marrow from the young
boy's mother.
Although Ben Towns is two and a half years old
he weighs only nine kilograms. He's suffering from a severe immune deficiency
disease
which makes him prone to repeated infection. The blotches on his skin
an allergic reaction to the preoperative serum he must take.
In recent months his condition has worsened. His family working desperately to keep him
alive.
It's just been in and out of hospital all the time with
infections for Ben. Being away from home and being away
up to several weeks. When we are at home we have to be careful
where we go and what we do with Ben.
It's just been really hectic.
Ben's only hope for survival is to have a bone marrow transplant
but attempts to find a compatible donor failed. So the Prince of Wales Children's Hospital
sought the assistance of a New York Cancer Clinic
which has developed a technique that allows the use of an incompatible donor.
It's the first time the technique has been attempted in Australia.
Its use in recent years in the United States and Europe has resulted in a high
success rate.
We have our cells at Memorial Stone Kettering Cancer Center
successfully transplanted
fifteen or sixteen of these children with severe combined immune deficiency
so that and have given them a new lease on life. They are now living a
perfectly normal existence some years after transplant.
But facing reality doctors admit success is far from assured.
While we're very hopeful and we think that this is
shows great potential for correcting Ben's problem
we do recognize that there are possible
areas in which difficulty could arise after the transplant.
Despite the dangers involved Mrs Townes is convinced it's the only hope they have left.
The only chance Ben has, Ben doesn't have it in him.
He doesn't have a chance. I feel it Ben just has to have it.
It may be up to three months before doctors know if tomorrow's operation is successful.
If Ben will be able to live a normal life.
Alan Hyn reporting for News World.
Police investigating the killing of well-known Sydney yachtsman Christopher
Hatfield have exhumed the family pet
in their search for clues. 37-year-old Hatfield was shot dead last week only two
days before his second wedding anniversary.
The grave of Christopher Hatfield's pet dog
exhumed today by the police in a bizarre twist to the murder investigation.
The dog was shot dead last December. Its body taken away today for closer
investigation of that death.
Christopher Hatfield's death by shooting last Friday
is a mystery police hope the dog's death may provide a clue.
Hatfield yacht sank off Bondi Beach two years ago with the loss
of one crewman. Police say some hostility between Hatfield and other crew members
which followed
is well known in the yachting fraternity. Hatfield was found by his wife in their
Maroobah home just after midnight last Friday.
He had been shot several times in the head and stomach.
Homicide squad detectives are still baffled by the killing.
Police are hoping the bullets they could find in the family dog
might match those which killed Christopher Hatfield last Friday
and if so that could be the missing link in this murder puzzle.
Larry Emder reporting for News World. The Duchess of Kent spent much of today
doing what she
loves and does best, meeting children less fortunate than others.
Jan Rainer reports on the fifth day of the royal visit to Queensland.
First stop for the Duchess of Kent today was Brisbane's Montrose home for
crippled children.
It's been no secret that this royal had especially requested such a visit.
As patron of many British societies including the spastic Centre of England
it was obvious the Duchess's interest and compassion today
were genuine and the children many of whom are incurably wheelchair bound
responded.
Others were a little more reticent but the rapport was touchingly
undeniable. They say crippled and handicapped children
are the Duchess's specialty and it's not hard to see why. She hasn't missed one child
on her inspection tour.
Even the days in clement weather couldn't dampen the spirit of the visit
as a wheelchair game of football was simply changed to an indoor square
dancing display.
A little later in the day the pace changed somewhat as the
Duchess joined her husband
for a round of engagements to help celebrate Queensland University's
75th anniversary. After an inspection of Aboriginal artefacts at the Anthropology
Museum
the royal couple witnessed the final of the inaugural Great Court Race.
Along with hundreds of students the Duke and Duchess
cheered and clapped as five runners raced around the university's cloister
and with the Duchess taking the limelight again she presented prizes to the
finalists
before being swamped with admiring onlookers. Jan Rainer for Newsworld.
Japanese scientists have unveiled a startling new machine that not only
understands the
printed word but it reads it out loud too. The idea is to help the blind who
for the first time will be freed from Braille.
The machine which can read a 300 page book in 15 hours
also turns pages and optically recognized letters
which it changes into a synthetic voice. It even analyzes sentences so that it can
choose the correct accent and intonation.
A blind person operating the machine can choose whichever part of the book
he or she wants to read and the speed of the voice.
So far only a prototype exists and it's already cost about
two hundred thousand dollars Australian.
Welcome back you're watching Sevens Newsworld. For the first time in years
it's no longer a crime in South Africa for blacks and whites to marry
but as Peter Kemp reports life is not going to change very much
for couples of mixed race.
Andy Manson is a lecturer in history at the University of Buffett at Swannock.
One of the so-called homelands created by the South African government
as black tribal reserves. He lives here because for the past two years he has
been a criminal in the eyes of South African law
and in the opinion of many fellow whites a traitor to his race.
Felicia Manson who also works at the university
married Andy two years ago. She is classified under South Africa's apartheid
laws
as a colored a person of mixed race. The announced abolition this week of the
race laws which prohibit relationships like the Mansons
did not cause any great rejoicing in this household.
Although their marriage and the legitimacy of their children will now be
accepted by the South African government
other laws which regulate housing education and health care
still block a normal lifestyle in quite South Africa.
The changes that have taken place
as far as I can see and a number of other people can see
are largely concerned to
preserve the existing system.
It's one of their powerful weapons of
manipulation if I could put it that way
because somehow you know western countries and so forth seem to be quite impressed
every time such a little change comes they say oh but you know
a change is taking place. The Mansons seem to share
most of the sentiments of other mixed marriage couples who have come forward to
react publicly to the announced abolition of the controversial sex laws.
They agree that any softening of apartheid is welcome
but they stress that much more reform is needed. Andy and Felicia have no reason
to believe their second-class status in the land of their birth
will soon change. They will remain in semi-exile in this northern corner of
South Africa
legally man and wife and parents but still considering themselves and their
family
fugitives from apartheid. In our special report tonight Dr John Darcy focuses on
one of our most common and most feared medical problems
the heart attack.