That'll do. Now what can I do for you two?
We're after Kevin Parks. He wasn't home.
We thought he might be here.
Well, do you see him here?
Nope.
That means he's not here.
You can contact the Guinness Book of Records.
Okay. If he comes in here,
can you tell him you want to have a talk with him?
You want to talk to who?
You know all about this, don't you, Mags?
No, no, I died when I was the youngest.
Not like that, Cooper.
Give him to me.
Sorry, boss.
Here you go, Sam. You come to Grandad.
You have much to learn.
Did you find him?
No.
The first thing you have to learn about life
is that it gets more complicated.
Never seen it.
No, Kevin. That's Mags' chain whip.
Look, I just chucked a spanner through his window.
You can't charge a bloke with that.
Yes, we can.
Well, what would you know?
Hey, Kevin, how are you, mate?
Can I go?
Yeah, straight through.
You all right?
Yeah, she's running.
Come on.
That's fine.
Hey, Nick, I made you a coffee.
Hey, Chrissie.
G'day. I'd like you to meet Duncan.
Hey, Duncan, how are you?
Good.
Can I help you?
No, I think I can help you.
You've been making Graham Cook's life a misery.
Now, if you continue to do so,
I'll make your life unbearable.
Is that clear?
The guy's in a wheelchair.
He's lost his wife.
So you just leave him alone.
Do you understand me?
Now, get the hell out of here.
You're a dill, Cooper.
Yeah, it's for a good cause, mate.
It's what's on the inside that's important.
Thank you.
Yeah, you don't think I'm both counts.
No, very funny.
Well, Weston's gonna have a very similar haircut.
What, did you pick a metal liner, did you?
Yeah, first time.
He had a panicked and buried the box when the roadblocks went up.
We'd never have got him.
Shit, still you get scalp.
You must be thinking yourself, are you, Cooper?
No, no, no.
You're the one I reckon, girls.
I hope he looks like him.
What, a cue ball is cute?
Doyle, P.J.
I'm starting to enjoy this, boss.
Nasty rash, mate.
Thanks, mate.
Kevin Cox, something I should know about him.
Well, I looked with the early boss, Graham's mishap
turned out to be an accident.
Well, he made a false statement yesterday,
but it was probably due to the flight concussion.
We think we should use our discretion, don't we?
We do?
Discretion, you say?
So you don't think the circumstances
will be repeating themselves at all?
No, I don't think so.
All right, fine by me.
Right, what do you reckon?
The Dutes and Davids.
Oh, you look like Sam.
Only sure.
Thanks a lot.
Crofty cop.
Next.
Would love to, but we gotta go.
We've still got time.
We've gotta go, all right?
Look at this, look what you've woken up to see.
Have a look at that, isn't it a horrible sight?
Boss.
Do you always hold a baby like that?
Patsy.
G'day, Patsy.
Hello, Chris.
Anna Raine told me she was heading for the airport.
She said she was heading for Gimpy
to find that boy of hers.
Why didn't she ring me up?
I've been worried sick.
Is she all right?
She's fine, she told me to come and take over.
Well, she had no right to do that.
Oh, maybe.
She was really upset.
What did you do to her?
Me, nothing.
Oh, yes.
Yes, and yes, I do always hold a baby like this.
Always have, always.
What do you think you're doing?
No wonder your kids grew up the way they did then.
Thank you very much.
You're still living in the same place?
Yes, I am.
Keys?
Don't lose them.
You never lost a thing in my life.
You lost your school bag when you were 10.
Elephant, never forgets.
And my bike pump once.
It was my sister, Patsy.
No doubt she'll meet you all later on.
A fatal accident.
I'm sorry.
No.
And Dasha's personal nightmare returns to haunt her.
Stop that car!
Will she be thrown out of the force?
Let's face it, she's a liability.
Look at that!
Blue Heelers, 8.30, next Tuesday night.
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Who's the surprise prosecution witness
that testifies against Avedon?
Find out when the riveting drama of Murder One
continues tomorrow night at 9.30.
Coming up next on Channel 7,
Witness with Yanniv X,
followed by the late edition of 7 Nightly News.
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This program, brought to you by Demerson
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A thriller not for the faint-hearted.
Tom Clancy's Up Centre, 8.30 Sunday.
You're about to witness Australia's
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Seven dead in one of Australia's worst maritime disasters.
Cyclone Bobby takes its toll off the West Australian coast.
But now the relatives of the dead are demanding answers.
Those seven stood no chance against the fury of Cyclone Bobby,
but there was no need for them to die.
It's unbelievable that, you know, I've lost my husband
and I have to get up and like such a song and dance
about everything that's happened.
Tonight, in a major investigation,
we reveal how this girl may have survived the cyclone,
if not for a padlocked escape hatch.
When they went to open the hatch on the Harmony,
a padlock on it.
Then there's the after-hours behaviour of the coroner
sent to investigate the tragedy.
And you witnessed him drinking?
Oh, yeah, full on, full on.
On the piss.
You do the town prayer.
The slopes are under attack by a new breed of thrill seekers.
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Hello, welcome to Witness.
In the cyclone zones of Australia,
people are used to putting human names
to the natural forces that kill.
Darwin, of course, had Cyclone Tracy,
and more recently, Western Australia had Cyclone Bobby.
Tonight, though, Witness uncovers evidence
of how indifference and official neglect
combined with that cyclone
to bring about the deaths of seven people.
And in a major revelation,
we discover how those deaths could have been prevented.
Mark Llewellyn has the story of the troubled waters
off Australia's Cyclone Coast.
A warning for a category 3 cyclone
is charged for possible areas between Wind Creek and Exmo...
The wind is just incredible,
and it sort of gets to 60 to 80 knots,
and then all of a sudden just picks up a few gears,
and, you know, next thing it's 100, 120, and just screaming.
Absolutely screaming, and it's just so powerful.
It's just so powerful.
It's just so powerful.
It's just so powerful.
On February 24, 1995,
Cyclone Bobby hit the West Australian coast.
It was as powerful as Cyclone Tracy,
and just like it, Cyclone Bobby was a killer.
We've got to take a time...
Two boats, the Lady Pamela and the Harmony Sink.
Seven die.
Those seven didn't stand a chance against the fury of Cyclone Bobby,
but there was no need for them to die.
The forces of nature took their lives,
but as you'll learn tonight,
they were condemned even before they left the sea.
You'll learn of the Government Department
and its complete indifference to the issue of safety
in this, the cyclone corridor of Australia,
and of a small town who rushed to bring in
and make safe its own fishing fleet,
but then watched as an outsider's vessel
sat within a stone's throw of safety and perished.
You'll learn why seven people should still be alive today.
Gavin was a really gentle giant.
He really enjoyed his job.
He lived for the sea.
He spent the majority of his life on the ocean,
and he was just a very happy, easygoing man,
very easy to get along with.
Michelle Elliott's husband, Gavin,
had just taken over as skipper of the Lady Pamela,
a prawning trawler unused to this dangerous part of Australia.
They call it Cyclone Alley.
In season, this stretch of coastline
in the north of Western Australia
attracts more cyclones than any other place on Earth,
and though he was new to these waters,
Gavin Elliott was well aware of that risk.
There was no way they were going to stay out during a cyclone.
They'd never experienced them,
but they knew that you didn't want to be out there when there was one.
Gavin and his two crew, Richard and Ian, had been at sea a week.
The catches were reasonable, the weather excellent.
They were pruning an area more often fished
by a small fleet of local boats,
but they weren't the only outsiders.
Also out was the trawler, The Harmony.
On it was 16-year-old Daniel Brennan.
Daniel was getting his first real taste of the sea.
His Aunt Flick, herself a former deckie, had got him the job.
Yeah, he was looking forward to it.
Did he have much experience?
No.
Probably all up 14 days, 15 days, not much.
The Lady Pamela's sister ship, the Lisa Dee, was fishing in the area too.
On board, deckhand Justin Smith watched as the weather changed.
After the perfect weather that we'd had, nice and sunny and hot,
then obviously cloud approaching, cloud approaching,
big rolly, stormy cigar-type shape,
big rollers, you know, just coming along the ocean.
Dime pull.
Wednesday, February 22, a worrying tropical low intensifies into a cyclone.
That we should name this as Cyclone Bobby.
But Cyclone Bobby is still young, many nautical miles and many hours away
from the nearest safe refuge of Onslow and its anchorage of Beedon Creek.
On the Lady Pamela, Gavin Elliott continues pruning Wednesday night,
but by dawn Thursday, he decides that while conditions are OK,
the signs are too threatening.
Gavin heads for what he thinks will be the safety of Beedon Creek.
He came in some 35 hours before the cyclone to get out of the path of the cyclone,
to get off the boat, make sure everyone was safe.
He wasn't able to get up the creek.
He rang a number of people to try and find out what to do about it.
Nobody gave him any assistance.
Noon Thursday, Cyclone Bobby is 31 hours away.
In Beedon Creek, as the locals start arriving back, the weather is good.
The locals have no trouble getting in or arranging moorings,
but as Gavin Elliott is about to discover, if you're an outsider, as he was,
Beedon Creek is treacherous territory.
The most dangerous strip of Australian coastline, I reckon,
for the number of cyclones that have crossed there and for the facilities provided.
You know, it's just an absolute joke.
I reckon that it's just a creek, you know?
That creek is the responsibility of the West Australian Department of Transport,
the one safe anchorage within hundreds of kilometres
in the most frequently cyclone-battered stretch of Australia,
yet the bureaucrats had neglected it.
Cyclone preparations were effectively non-existent.
Was there a contingency plan?
At that stage, there was no contingency plan operated in Beedon Creek.
Next to no navigational aids?
That's correct.
Bob Elkington is special investigator for the fatalities branch of WorkSafe Western Australia.
It was Elkington who was sent to investigate the seven deaths.
When he went to Beedon Creek, he was dismayed.
It is mismanaged, and that's our concern.
And that was the Department of Transport responsibility?
Yes, they picked that up as their responsibility.
Mismanaged.
Hemmed in by sandbars and a long rock breakwater,
at low tide, negotiating Beedon Creek is all but impossible.
Well, at high tide, even for locals,
it's been described as threading a needle with your eyes shut.
And this was supposed to be a safe cyclone refuge.
There was no real markers or warning signs
to give an inexperienced skipper the opportunity to navigate it safely.
A warning for a category four cyclone is current for coastal areas.
In Beedon Creek, cyclone preparations begin.
It's called wiring off.
The boats are tethered by cable to either side of the creek.
Just before the cyclone hits,
those cables will be winched tight, securing the trawlers.
But until then, they lie under the water to allow other boats access.
The locals know this,
but Gavin, who by now has arrived outside Beedon Creek,
comes to believe he can't get in because of those wires,
that in effect the creek is chained off.
This belief will prove fatal.
Gavin Elliott spoke to them on the radio,
and he was told that the creek was chained off.
His perception of what chained off meant,
and I guess what the locals meant by saying it was chained off,
are two different things.
And that, again, is where you don't have proper control.
Proper control lay with the Department of Transport.
I would suggest so, yes.
Absolutely so. And they didn't have it.
It wasn't at the creek at the time, no.
Justin Smith heard his skipper speaking to Gavin on the radio about the chains.
I told John that the creek's been wired off, I can't get in the creek.
So he sat off Onslow.
The Lady Pamela anchored around about here.
This is how close it was to Onslow and to safety, 600 metres.
Close enough for Gavin Elliott and his crew to have seen the town.
They would have seen cars driving along the shorefront road,
and they certainly would have seen the entrance to Beedon Creek.
Close enough, too, for them to be seen by a number of locals.
Yeah, he was just parked off the bay here.
He wasn't far out.
How far offshore?
Kilometre, maybe a bit more. Not far.
Flick Brennan saw the Lady Pamela from Nicky's restaurant, as did Leo Barker.
We were down at the cafe at the beach, having lunch, my wife and I,
and somebody asked me, oh, what's that boat out there?
And I looked through their glasses and it was the Lady Pamela.
In the fast that now unfolds, Leo Barker is one of the main players.
The West Australian Department of Transport had effectively washed its hands
of control of Beedon Creek, contracting it to the local shire,
who in turn gave it to Leo to keep an eye on.
Leo, local ranger, carer for strays, untrained Leo,
who was patently unprepared for the job.
Did you have any radios to get in touch with the boats?
No, not the boat, not previous, no.
Did you have any specific seafaring training?
No, not really, only small craft proficiency.
Did you try and make contact with the Lady Pamela?
Through the fishermen, I talked to Mark Shanks,
Mark Shanks had got his radio, he got the fishing vessel, the Oriana,
and I asked him if he could try to make contact for me,
and he tried and he couldn't get through to her.
What did you do next?
The police knew we were... the police was into the police,
we didn't do any more about it, really.
This is Mark Shanks, one of the local fishermen in Beaton Creek that day.
We're not in a position... they can advise him,
but we're not in a position that we can actually go out
and step on the boat and tell him what to do.
Petrocyclones coming, shouldn't you have done that?
Um, I think myself it was probably his owners
and the sistership that he was talking with
should have instructed him to go up in the creek.
But not you people?
We're not in a position that we can.
He's just sitting outside.
Um, you can give people advice, but you cannot tell them what to do.
You don't own the boat, you're not part of the company.
They didn't have any legal responsibility to do anything.
It wasn't their job.
But I would have thought there was a moral obligation
to look after people in distress,
you know, to make sure that everybody got in and everyone was safe.
With no-one in effective charge,
control of the creek effectively rests with the locals.
There is confusion, no clear chain of command.
There should have been somebody in charge
to make procedures clear to the skippers of what they had to do.
Very destructive wind...
Thursday evening, with the weather worsening
and with an eyesight of safety,
the Lady Pamela remains stuck in limbo.
Meanwhile, at sistership, the Lisa Dee is still out,
as is the trawler, the Harmony.
On board, it's skipper Hugh Hatch, who's been having a bad season,
is now taking an extraordinary gamble.
He and his young crew, Scott Clark, Janine Callow and Daniel Brennan,
stay out for one last fish.
It's just the pressure from the owners to be out there.
There is that pressure. Oh, for sure. For sure.
They want the dollar,
especially if the boat's been off for a couple of months,
hasn't been working, they've been doing refit, costs a lot of money.
So they want that boat out and working and catching,
or else they're not making any money.
As they stay out, the Lady Pamela has gone searching.
There was a boat coming right along the edge of the reef,
we thought it was, and that's when we first saw the spotlight.
And I said, oh, God, you know, whatever they're doing,
they don't know what they're doing,
and they're in kind of big troubles.
Bernie and Dot Taylor, two residents of Thevenard Island,
believe that boat was the Lady Pamela.
Convinced they can't get into Beedon Creek,
it seems Gavin and his crew began a desperate search for another refuge.
Thevenard Island, Thevenard Island.
Concerned, Bernie tries to make contact.
We kept, continually just kept calling them,
and there's just no reply.
The Lady Pamela returns to Onslow and again anchors outside Beedon Creek,
again it's seen by the locals, again a chance to be saved,
perhaps the last chance.
Why didn't they ask him why he didn't come in the creek?
No one made any attempts to find out why Gavin was still sitting out there.
They all thought it was strange, but they didn't do anything.
There's a certain code whereby you help each other.
It's men against Mother Nature, against the elements,
and you've got to look after each other.
They were so close to safety.
Visible.
They could have seen each other, you know.
It's just a tragedy.
At 7pm, severe cyclone Bobby was estimated to be 40 kilometres northeast of Onslow.
Friday, cyclone Bobby is now pounding the coast.
In Onslow, people are ordered off the streets into their homes.
The Lady Pamela remains anchored and dreadfully exposed outside.
Ten kilometres away, the Harmony, having left its run for Beedon Creek so late,
is finding that going almost impossible.
Last seen going backwards.
Full steam ahead on the anchor, going backwards.
Going backwards against the force of the cyclone, they could make no headway.
Yeah, full steam ahead.
Much further north, the Lisa Dee has sought shelter behind an offshore island.
The cyclone hits them first.
On board, Justin Smith films its approach.
We just had to hold on.
Just hold on for your life and come on, baby, stay afloat.
Get us through this.
Justin films until it is impossible to do anything but hang on and hope.
Wind speeds reach 120 kilometres.
The Lisa Dee is battered but survives.
Yeah, we called up Gav.
We've made it, we've made it, you know.
We were so good, you know, we were so excited.
And so was he for us.
Well done, you guys, you know, you made it, you survived, OK.
I'm just here doing, you know, doing what I can to make sure everything's right.
And that was one of the last convos that we had.
Yeah, we've got it.
The crew of the Lady Pamela do everything they can to make it through.
It isn't enough.
We were lucky it was Friday afternoon when it was, when we were in the eye,
it was 3 in the afternoon.
But for them it was late that night, 9, 10 o'clock at night,
and just massive seas in the dark.
It just would have been so scary.
Very frightening.
The fate of the Lady Pamela will be the fate of the Harmony 2.
It never makes it to Beedon Creek.
Its crew, including young Daniel Brennan, all killed.
The cyclone Bobby has taken its toll, two boats and seven dead.
In a moment, our investigation of the cyclone Bobby disaster continues,
and we raise disturbing questions about both the inquest into the seven deaths
and the behaviour of the coroner.
You witnessed him drinking?
Oh, yeah, full on, full on, on the piss.
I'm praying.
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On Seven Nightly News, you do the crime, you do the time.
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On Today Tonight, we brought you Adelaide's phone freaks.
The account went to $15,000.
Now we've found them and we confront the culprits
who are costing phone owners thousands.
An Adelaide one popped up, so we use that one.
Tomorrow night.
You might think that seven deaths at sea
would prompt soul-searching and effective official inquiries
so that the tragedy of Cyclone Bobby would never be repeated.
But as Mark Llewellyn continues this investigation,
you'll hear allegations that the coroner was drunk
outside the courtroom and abused relatives of the dead.
And most disturbing of all,
the revelation that a vital escape hatch was padlocked,
destroying any chance of survival
for at least one of Cyclone Bobby's victims.
It was definitely preventable. It shouldn't have happened.
If there had been someone in charge, it would not have happened.
It's unbelievable that I've lost my husband
and I have to get up and make such a song and dance
about everything that's happened.
It's so obvious to me where everything fell down,
where the fault lies.
Michelle Elliott is disillusioned and angry.
18 months later, she and the other relatives of the dead
are still searching for answers,
like why her husband's boat came so close to safety
but never got in.
He did everything he had to do.
When he asked for assistance, he didn't get any.
And why the trawl of the Harmony left its run so late.
Why the West Australian Department of Transport
so singularly failed to have a system in place,
a person in charge and an anchorage in good repair at Beedon Creek.
Coroner Peter Gould has found that the plane was defective.
When seven people died in the Monarch plane crash,
the Coronial Inquiry sat for three months
and brought down a 120-page report
on the problems in the aviation industry.
This inquest is now open.
This is an inquest from Mr Peter Buck.
Coroner Peter Buck had a similar responsibility
to investigate the seven trawler deaths.
He sat for four days and then issued this five-page report.
His conclusion, it was the fault of the two dead skippers.
Easier to blame the people that aren't here,
to blame the skippers for not doing their job properly
than to look at all the other aspects of the story.
And we were hoping to get a lot of answers as to what happened,
who said what to who, things we didn't know,
that we need to know to put things together in our heads.
And we just didn't get that.
It's the biggest disaster of this state
that I can remember in 30 years as an inspector.
And I think that it's just so sad.
Seven people died because of mismanagement.
Bob Elkington, who investigated the tragedy
for WorkSafe West Australia,
is disappointed that his comprehensive 64-page report
with 70 interviews and strong recommendations
to avert future disasters
was not accepted as evidence by the coroner.
The coroner informed me that this was a maritime issue
and didn't understand what my department was doing involved in it.
Well, Elkington's specific job was also to investigate the deaths,
including the death of Janine Callow.
Tonight we reveal how Janine might have survived Cyclone Bobby
only to be trapped by a padlocked escape hatch.
When I received the report from the police divers,
I was informed that when they went to open the hatch on the Harmony,
the front hatch where...
was the area where Janine Callow's body was found
had a padlock on it.
Janine was found in an air pocket in the upturned hull of the Harmony.
That padlock gave her no chance of escape.
The police divers' report, which mentions the padlock,
was submitted to Mr Buck,
yet in his finding there is no mention of it.
Bob Elkington's report, which was not accepted by the coroner,
is even more disturbing.
You'd warned Don Retay about having padlocks on escape hatches?
12 months before, yes.
This is Don Retay, the owner of the Harmony.
Don Retay knew about this? Yes, he did.
You'd warned him personally? Yes, I had.
What do you think of that action?
I can't comment on it.
Not happy? I'm definitely not happy.
And I think that this is a situation where owners must understand
their responsibilities when they put a vessel to sea.
So no mention by the coroner of the padlock,
no mention that this had happened before.
We approached both the coroner and Don Retay for interviews about this
and other serious matters raised in this story.
They both refused.
We also wanted to speak with Mr Buck about his behaviour
towards the relatives of the dead during his inquiry.
And he went to the pub and proceeded to tell anyone that cared to listen
when he was really quite drunk that, you know, that this was a waste of time,
don't know why we're doing this.
We all know that they just made a big mistake and it was all their fault.
Why are we bothering?
Flick Brennan's nephew Daniel was one of the victims.
She was an eyewitness to Mr Buck's behaviour in the Onslow pub.
And you witnessed him drinking?
Oh, yeah, full on, full on, on the piss.
He'd do the town proud.
Stephen Eads, Jeanine Callow's fiance, was another eyewitness.
After the court had risen for the day, Stephen saw Mr Buck in the pub.
He told the magistrate how disappointed with the inquiry he was
and says Buck responded with,
Dolphins die, people die, what do you want me to do?
Insulted and overcome with emotion, Stephen threw a glass of beer on the magistrate.
I don't think he conducted himself professionally at all.
His behaviour in Onslow was just despicable.
Did you witness him drinking?
Yes, I did.
I spoke to him the night after the first day of the inquiry
and I asked him how he thought things were going and what he expected it to...
how he expected it to go.
And he basically told me that he thought it was a waste of time
and it was a witch hunt.
This story is all about responsibility.
The responsibility of owners to care not just for their boats but their crews,
of the industry as a whole, to start taking safety seriously.
And most of all, the responsibility of the West Australian Department of Transport,
whose neglect of Beedon Creek was so shameful,
to make sure such a tragedy is never repeated.
You would think seven deaths would be incentive enough,
but as recently as three months ago, it came so close to happening all over again.
They came too close to being lost at sea.
April this year and 16 tourists are on board this boat, the True North.
There's a cyclone alert.
The boat enters Beedon Creek.
There's confusion about a safe anchorage.
And although Cyclone Olivia is imminent, the True North heads back to sea.
Hours later, they're battered by the cyclone.
Remarkably, they survive.
The system failed.
The system did fail, yes.
Even after Cyclone Bobby, the system fails.
Even after the lessons, the system fails.
That's correct.
Does that suggest that the Department of Transport still hasn't got it right?
It suggests that somebody hasn't got it right.
It's their responsibility.
And it suggests that there has to be a lot of work done in that area
to ensure that this sort of tragedy doesn't happen again.
Many of the problems we've raised tonight could be overcome with one simple reform,
a system which compels skippers to return to port when a cyclone threatens.
A similar plan has been successfully operating in the oil industry for years.
It's a reform which should come from the West Australian Department of Transport.
To date, there is no such plan for a system of compulsory recall.
I've tried every angle I know to get these things to occur,
and it's one of these things that it just doesn't seem to happen quick enough.
What does it take? Seven people died?
Well, I hope it takes no more, but it's taken seven people today, yes.
It's a year and a half ago. Enough is enough.
Just fix the problem, make sure it doesn't happen again.
At least these guys didn't die in vain.
We've learnt something from the accident.
It doesn't happen again.
The West Australian Department of Transport is fundamentally responsible for safe harbouring at Beedon Creek.
In the light of our investigation,
witness approached the Transport Minister, Eric Charlton, who refused to speak with us.
And as for the behaviour of Coroner Buck revealed tonight,
his boss, Chief Stipendary Magistrate Con Zemplas,
has apologised to the relatives of the dead in this letter,
describing Mr Buck's actions as most inappropriate and to be regretted.
Such behaviour, he says, could not be tolerated and must not be repeated in the future.
Up next, daredevils going to extremes in the world's fastest growing sport.
This Seven News Update brought to you by Colonial,
giving you financial security now, not just in retirement.
Good evening.
Tonight, anger over federal government budget manoeuvres cuts a plan to Aboriginal funding,
but diesel fuel keeps its rebate.
Also, self-serve salad bars, it's claimed they're a threat to health.
Merger mania in Melbourne, Demon Greats give the thumbs up to a merger with Hawthorne,
and our Olympic athletes prepare for a thank you on the eve of a ticker tape parade.
Details after witness.
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Thursday. Love letters to Fitz from a killer.
The letters are for you.
The bodies are for you.
If he gets inside her mind, he may never escape.
She's killed for you.
Please!
An all new episode of Cracker, 9.30 Thursday.
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Australia's snowfields are now flush with the best falls of the season.
But the traditional playground of the rich and fabulous is being invaded by a feral new breed which is multiplying rapidly.
Snowboarding has given an elite core of thrill seekers the chance to update the surfing spirit of the 60s.
They travel the world in an endless winter risking their lives to tackle new extremes.
And as Prulawana reports, people with vertigo need not apply.
Skiing's been around for so long and the route has always been the skier's place.
And you're the new kids on the block.
Something like that.
We're doing great exciting things.
We're travelling and basically making our own choice and having fun.
And we're not sticking to guidelines of having a house, having a car, doing a nine to five job.
We've made our choice to travel and to experience life pretty much.
These are the storm troopers of the fastest growing sport on earth.
Their punks turn professional, athletes with attitude.
Stevie just pointing it.
Just bombing every dick in his sight.
You know that's what snowboarding's all about, just getting out there and just tearing shit to pieces.
Wanaka, New Zealand is the latest postcard destination for the stars of the international snowboard circuit.
Just ten years ago snowboarders were banned from most ski fields.
Now they compete in some of the world's most beautiful and remote locations.
There's Luke Fitcher.
So how was that?
That's a lot of fun.
What does it feel like?
It feels like you're flying.
It's nice to touch down.
Marguerite Cosettini, usually Australia's best female rider.
I stopped.
Are you OK?
Yeah, I'm good.
As long as I can give it all.
And Neil Hardwick, the most well-known rider from Australia.
He chases winter around the world.
The adrenaline from that stuff, it's good, it's worth it.
Adrenaline is the best free buzz you can have.
It doesn't cost anything, except maybe a lift pass or the price of a snowboard or whatever you want to do.
Welcome to Harris Mountains.
We're going to be flying up into Stag Peak today.
For 35 of the best snowboarders from around the world, this is a quiet day at the office.
There are no chairlifts, only choppers.
What is extreme?
What is extreme?
I'll do this like I was talking to my mum.
Thank you.
Because she has no idea.
It's a helicopter picks you up, usually out of the snow line to start off with.
You get into the chopper, you fly up through the valley into the snow line, so now there's all snow everywhere.
You get your number called, you leave the gates or you leave the startings or whatever it is.
Everybody yells and says, you're off.
And then it's you.
It's you and the mountain.
This is not called extreme competition for nothing.
It is only for the fearless.
Jumping furthest, that's getting the most air, is what it's about.
Extreme face is a face that you wouldn't want to go up to, but I do.
It's like a face that to come down the mountain, you've definitely got drops, sheer rock face, ice waterfalls.
Riverdale!
Some of the best
target mates know him as Elvis, the king of the mountain.
But in this era of sport as entertainment, it's not enough to win.
The riders also compete for publicity.
Last year, Hardwick set up the ultimate media stunt, a road jump.
What induced you to jump over a road when if you missed, you wouldn't land on snow, you'd land on bitumen?
Yeah, but I made sure I didn't land on the road.
What on earth possessed you to do that?
Adrenaline, I guess, I don't know.
Good luck, Neil.
Oh, fuck!
Oh!
I just went too fast and it bit me.
I did fall a long way on my head, upside down.
I almost twisted up.
Hardwick almost broke his back.
I did it again, I did it straight away again, properly.
The same jump?
Yeah.
Just to make sure.
Straight away, did it, landed it.
Yeah!
This is life.
This is my job.
And then I was all happy.
And then I went to the chiropractor.
Just fall back now.
That's it.
Thank you.
Jeff Morrison, osteopath, puts the riders back together.
He jokingly refers to it as crisis care.
After landing from some of these 40 and 50 footers,
the compression is just unbelievable.
That's it, one more, mate.
Ladder drop.
Thank you.
At this rate, can he keep going?
Hell yeah.
I can't ever think any different.
Yeah, he'll keep going.
I'll keep putting him back together.
So sore.
Jeff Sanders is a veteran of the snowboard scene,
but at 28 he's beginning to feel the pain.
White boys can jump, they just can't land.
Hey.
You're really, really pushing your body and your limits to the max.
So more or less after events like these, we're hurting.
We're hurting for a little while,
but after we see Jeff, we're okay, ready to do it all again.
All I'll do is draw this back and try and stretch out that new barrier nail.
Age may weary them, but that commitment to fearless endeavor
can never be forgotten.
It's carved onto their bodies, like Tim's nickname, Shredder.
Yeah, Shredder!
Shredding is a way of life for us guys.
What does that mean for you, shredding?
It means destroying anything that you go down, shred,
trout put apart, you know, rip, tear and lacerate.
Nine times out of ten, oh no, five times out of ten,
there's an easy way down.
But if you want to take the easy way down,
well, it's not really worth paying the money in the helicopter to go up there.
Because if you want to go the easy way down,
you can do that in a resort with a lift on it.
Why not have an easy time when you could risk your life?
What do you mean risk your life?
Isn't that what you're talking about?
No, go out and have fun.
But the ultimate ride can sometimes be fatal.
A few months ago, Marguerite Cosatini was hit by an avalanche in Alaska.
I could hear one of the guys yelling under my feet.
So we stopped and we started to dig him out until we found his head.
And then I didn't want to leave him there
because there was a leg sticking up behind his head.
And then we realised the leg was his mate's leg.
So he then helped me and we had to dig out his mate.
And it took a long time to actually get down to his head.
There was an arm and a leg,
and then it took a while to get there to his head to make sure he was breathing.
So, yeah, that was pretty fun.
And how close was that second person to not making it?
Pretty close, yeah.
Yeah, right there.
I actually thought he was dead, so, yeah.
Elite snowboarding is all about defying risk.
They may push themselves past ludicrous limits,
but for these new kids of the mountain,
the adrenaline rush of cheating gravity is the ultimate challenge.
Yeah!
Coming up, the violin maker with a very unusual way of making music.
Witness more shortly.
We trust them with our lives.
His pupils are blown out.
8.30 Wednesday. You'll uncover their demons.
How do you stay sane?
Cheer on their triumphs.
Thank you.
And share in their hopes.
I miss you already.
The Emmy Award-winning Chicago Hope.
Then at 9.30 on Murder One, a dangerous proposition.
Are you married?
Don't come between us.
A surprise witness.
We're about to get a rude introduction.
And evidence worth killing for.
This is personal.
In the most intriguing mystery of the year, Murder One, Wednesday on 7.
I can't believe it.
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Yep, it's equal.
These.
Uh-huh.
And when I'm out, I take these.
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Cheese with bite.
Pomodori rossi.
Tomatoes, known in Italy as love apples.
Spezie delicate.
And spice.
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If you were in the market for a violin from a European master like Stradivari, you'd need a checkbook that could handle six figure sums.
But there's no point talking money to Australian maker John Gottschall Johnson.
His instruments are not for sale.
He travels to timber shows and demonstrations around the country entrusting his violins to custodians armed with passion and ability rather than wads of cash.
But it's not so much his generosity or love of classical music that's so remarkable.
Our snapshot tonight is of a rare beast, a man of ideals.
I'm told I'm an eccentric.
I don't know whether I am or not.
I never want to take time to consider whether I'm eccentric or not.
But the whole thing is that I do what I want to do and I do what I feel is the correct thing to do in the society in which we live.
What I do with my violins is to provide, if I can, a few, just a few of the young people with that tremendous talent with a decent instrument because they've got no way in the world of being able to buy it.
I don't actually give them in the sense that anybody ever owns them.
They are at custodian.
And as long as the instruments exist, however long that may be, I expect that they will be passed from one player to another without being bought or sold.
I think it's a protest against the values of our present day society where money is the supreme god.
The violin that John gave me was his 55th violin and if basically I didn't have his violin then there's no way I'd be able to afford a violin of such quality and I just wonder if I'd be able to get as far as I've gone without having a violin that just has such a wonderful tone to it.
It's the difference between an old Model T Ford and a Rolls Royce.
That's what it amounts to.
One of the things that I do, which I don't know anybody else does, is to treat my wood before I use it.
And when I tell people what I put it in, they look at me usually in holy horror.
It goes into a bath of urine.
And the Small Woods Guild used to do exactly that in Italy at Strad's time.
People ask me where is my supply and I tell them I have an adequate supply. It's always on tap.
And it is not contaminated by alcohol, nicotine or medication. It's as pure as you can imagine such a substance would be.
Most violin makers would say that bloke's mad.
He doesn't know what he's talking about. But they can think I'm mad. It doesn't make me mad. It doesn't make them sane.
He has that rare quality which recognises the skills and the abilities of the young musicians who play his violins and violas.
You know what a hypnotic sound this is, do you?
There are a lot of players, particularly in amongst professionals, who are technicians. They dance all over the fingerboard. They're dead in here.
I'm looking for the ones that are. And this young lady isn't.
This is John's life. We have three children, but these violins are our children too.
I don't give my instruments a monetary value. If they haven't got a good musical value, they're not worth anything.
I feel that what I do is really worthwhile. But I don't mind how I'm remembered as long as they look after my violins.
Next, your thoughts on Witness.
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If you like the recipe for this traditional Thai green curry, it's in this jar from the new selections range from Canton.
Wednesday, would you paddle a canoe over a raging waterfall?
I'll give you $500.
Or clean a window 300 meters above the ground?
You'll have a go.
The things you thought you'd never do?
Embarrassed.
The all new series of Who Dares wins.
Then at 8, see a city garage converted into a fabulous home.
Palace in this corridor. A lighthouse in the bush with a magnificent view. And from warehouse living to living in a water tank.
I love these bench tops. Yeah, right.
Australia's Strangest Home Improvements, Wednesday on 7.
Good evening. Shortly, Strike Action threatens Victoria's petrol supplies, a commando raid on a suburban beach no one told the public and Shane worn in doubt for Sri Lanka.
And now to your thoughts on witness. There was an enormous response to last week's piece about the death of Max Bell as seen through the eyes of the doctor who tried to help him die.
Max has agreed to let me document his story because he really wants to let those who would oppose his right to die legally to know what they've really put him through.
These days seems like a hundred years. Yeah. As soon as this thing is cleaned up and we're better.
We put dogs down when they're suffering. Why not our fellow human beings? There was no dignity in the way that wretched man died. I'm appalled at people's lack of compassion.
I just don't see why people want to inflict things like this on each other. What the hell is going on?
I can't believe that people are not allowed to die with dignity. It's so degrading. It's the quality of life that's important, not the quantity. Dr. Neachie deserves a medal and the public support.
They wanted the law, but they wanted it to be so safe. And they kept talking about safeguards. They've got so damn safe you can't use it.
If you put the bill in the bin, it's useless. It's Clayton's euthanasia. It infuriates me that politicians have the right or they say they have the right to say no to euthanasia.
When you wouldn't allow your dog to suffer, the medical system allows you to prolong life. But that's not a life. That's just a living organism suffering the most extreme pain.
And yet there's an easy, painless way to relieve all that and they won't let it happen. It's wrong.
Some suffering can only be relieved by death. So if voluntary euthanasia is to be denied, how is society to avoid inflicting such inhumanity, even torture, on those who request to be released from their agony?
Mr. Bell's prolonged and unnecessary suffering poses serious questions for politicians, the AMA and the Christian church.
And from an unhappy death to an extraordinary life, our visit with pianist David Helfgott inspired a lot of comment, including this video letter from a Sydney viewer.
This was a very moving program for me. Two things stood out. One was the triumph of the human spirit over adversity and full marks to David's wife for bringing him out of the terrible condition he found himself in.
And sad because I can see that these treatments he received really didn't have to exist at all. How many other David Helfgott's might there be incarcerated in mental hospitals?
David provides the bravura performances and Gillian the lines.
A wonderful insight into David Helfgott. The complexity and charm of this great musician was well captured.
Thank you for all your comments. Witness will be back next Tuesday at nine thirty. I hope you can join us then. Good night.
Don't forget the team at witness values your comments. You can phone the free call number one eight hundred two four double seven double seven or you can write fax or email.
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Seven nightly news with and forward.
Anger flares over tough new budget cuts.
An Australian woman dies in a Hawaii gun attack.
And the supermarket salad bar labeled a major health risk.
Good evening. There's growing anger tonight over federal government plans to make big cuts to Aboriginal funding.
At the same time the government has spared the rural sector by agreeing not to scrap the billion dollar diesel fuel rebate.
Federal cabinet met in Sydney today ahead of Tuesday's budget and the mood was defiant despite growing community anger over the eight billion dollars worth of cuts.
Any backing off.
The latest pre budget announcement came from the Aboriginal Affairs Minister who slashed around 400 million dollars or 11 percent over the next four years.
The alternative to it of course is of course is putting it on the Beasley Bank card if that's what you want to do.
Tonight ATSIC described the cuts as a blow to self determination and the end of major programs including the funding of recommendations from the Royal Commission into Aboriginal deaths in custody.
Why penalize the weakest sector of the community? Why penalize us who are so disadvantaged that this is only going to make us more disadvantaged.
These savage cuts announced today will make things much much worse for Indigenous people.
But the government says Aboriginal health, housing and employment will be quarantined.
However in another pre budget announcement the government has given in to farmers and agreed not to scrap the diesel fuel rebate.
I'm just delighted to be able to squash the speculation on this matter at this time.
The decision relieves some of the immediate pressure on Tim Fisher's leadership.
But the pressure is on the government to push the measures through the Senate particularly in light of polls showing 60 percent of voters backed the right of the minor parties to block key parts of the budget.
In Canberra, Helen McCabe, Seven Nightly News.
The surfing community is in shock tonight after the shooting deaths of an Australian woman and her surfer husband in Hawaii.
Carol and Randall Kim and a family friend were gunned down in their home by a neighbour who then killed himself.
Carol Kim's frantic screams for mercy alerted police but weren't enough to stop the gunman's murderous onslaught.
A former professional surfer representing the Gold Coast based Billabong Company, Randall Kim couldn't save his wife and was also shot dead in the neighbour's rampage.
He was a great guy to go surfing with. He was fun in the water, he was easy to surf with, he shared waves, he just had a really good kind heart.
Carol Kim's Gold Coast mother and the Australian surfing community are in mourning, no one more affected than close family friend, Aussie legend Mark Okalupa.
You know it's just so frustrating having someone do that and then take their own life too. It's just not fair.
A visiting family friend was also killed before the neighbour turned the gun on himself.
The Kims two children, an eight year old boy and a six year old girl, weren't home at the time.
Ross Dagen, Seven Nightly News.
Victoria's petrol supplies are under threat tonight from two industrial disputes.
One has closed the Shell refinery for the first time in three years and BP's supplies have already been hit by a tanker driver's strike.
Production of the state's largest refinery responsible for 60% of petrol supply is at a standstill.
260 operators have walked off the job over a bargaining agreement throwing Victoria's fuel supply into chaos.
Unauthorised act of industrial thuggery is motivated by greed and selfishness.
This isn't about money, it's about the refinery, it's about people who work in a very difficult environment.
While the refinery has enough petrol for up to a week, the dispute comes on top of industrial action by BP tanker drivers, which has already meant shortages at some of its service stations.
And the state's only other refinery, Mobile's Altona plant, was also forced to stop production temporarily because of mechanical problems.
But Shell warns if the dispute drags on, petrol supplies across Melbourne could begin to dry up within days.
Mike Amor, Seven Nightly News.
The Army has apologised for a raid that it launched on a Melbourne suburban beach.
Commandos armed with guns stormed the foreshore as part of a military exercise, but stunned beachgoers had no idea.
Amber shone Williamstown Beach, a full-scale military exercise to prepare for attack.
But some beachgoers watched the trial run in horror, shocked as Army Reserve officers in war paint began waving rifles.
I thought it was quite outrageous that on a Sunday, a pleasant Sunday afternoon when families were enjoying a bit of sunshine and a walk on the beach, that they should openly be carrying such large weapons.
Ms Kafanya says she was horrified when an officer pointed a gun in her direction.
That's what shook me, I suppose, the fact that, you know, you have a gun pointed in your direction.
While the Army has formally apologised to Ms Kafanya, it will continue to conduct military exercises on the beach, but next time will erect public warning signs.
The Army has defended the Williamstown Regiment, saying the guns weren't loaded, it was standard training procedure and authorities had been notified.
Emma Power, Seven Nightly News.
A Sydney woman has declared war on the US Navy by suing over an accident aboard a visiting aircraft carrier.
But the Americans also are at battle stations. They say they're not to blame.
In May 1992, the USS Independence arrived in Sydney to help commemorate the Battle of the Coral Sea.
Thousands of people queued for a tour of the aircraft carrier.
But now the US Defence Department has been hit with a lawsuit over the visit.
Media lobbyist Fiona Matthews is claiming the Navy was negligent.
On her way to a formal cocktail party with the Admiral, Mrs Matthews sl...