7 Nightly News
Tonight, police called as Lord Mayor Ninio's minders try to block the press.
A court victory for wheelchair-bound shooter Lydia Cosmarlo.
And a lightning show that lit up the Adelaide skyline.
Good evening. Also tonight, another gun goes off during the hand-in of banned weapons.
But first, high fars at the town hall today with embattled Lord Mayor Henry Ninio
barring a group of angry journalists from a media conference.
Police were called in at the height of the incident as a bid by Mr Ninio to improve his image turned into a nightmare.
It's TV only. TV only. Could everybody else please leave? Please?
The community is not allowed to hear something from a publicly elected official.
And he can't, you know, manufacture the news how he wants it to be.
Mr Ninio must be wondering who his supporters are.
He doesn't count the advertiser among them, barring them from an interview this afternoon
after a series of unfavourable articles about his business dealings in Europe and North Africa.
There have been two or three very nasty articles in the advertiser about me
and the reporter who was in charge of that reporting didn't have the courtesy to ring me before he went to print.
He says the Libyans he'd hoped to do business with let him down too.
And he's claiming the state government, once supportive of his overseas endeavours, has pulled its support.
Mr Brown refusing to sign an introduction to the Libyan Prime Minister that his own department had drafted.
When I saw the letter I decided not to sign it.
Mr Ninio claims the government wants him gone and there are some councillors he says feel the same way
amid calls for an inquiry into whether he's been using town hall resources for private business purposes.
Mr Ninio won't be counting this amongst his better weeks.
Today's debacle, proceeding tonight's Please Explain Council meeting,
called because of his controversial overseas phone calls and business dealings.
Brian Ehume, Seven Nightly News.
And the meeting to discuss the Lord Mayor's actions is now underway.
Mike Smithson joins us live from the town hall.
Mike, what's the feeling down there?
Jane, you can almost cut the tension in the air here tonight at the town hall.
It goes to show just how much pressure the Lord Mayor is under tonight.
He's waging war on three fronts.
He's up against some sections of the Council, he's up against the Premier and the State Government
and now he's waging war against certain sections of the Adelaide media.
I've just been handed this 14 page report which the Lord Mayor will deliver to this extraordinary meeting tonight
and believe me it's dynamite.
In it he says that, well he viciously attacks Premier Brown for allegedly letting him down over the Libyan trade mission.
He accuses the government of setting him up and hanging him out to dry
and he almost accuses the Premier of betrayal.
I don't think Dean Brown will be sending Henry Ninneau any Christmas cards this year.
The big test will be to see if Henry Ninneau can keep on keeping on.
Back to you, Graham.
Thanks Mike.
Six people and several police officers may be hard of hearing for the next few days
after a shotgun discharged during the buyback at Theberton Police Barracks.
No one was injured but the gun's owner has been charged.
The incident happened around 10 this morning when a firearms owner presented his gun to police for compensation.
Police couldn't open the action and gave it back to him to show it was empty.
We proved the weapon to make sure there's no live rounds in it and on this occasion there was.
And what happened?
It went off and it put a hole through the roof.
The blast punched an eight centimetre hole in the galvanised iron roof of the checking station.
The gun involved was an expensive Italian military and police style semi-automatic
and pump action shotgun.
The Frankie Spaz shotgun gained worldwide popularity after featuring in several of the Schwarzenegger Terminator movies.
It's a heavy and complex weapon to handle.
It's the second time a firearm has discharged accidentally during the buyback.
But police deny there's a security or procedural problem.
There were people behind him which who would have been scared by that.
But the system set up here that any proving of weapons is done away from anyone else.
The owner's been charged with carrying a loaded firearm and property damage.
It's likely he'll spend most of the $980 compensation in court fines and costs.
Graeme Hunter, 7 Nightly News.
A victory tonight for international shooter Libby Kosmala who won a competition
but was disqualified because she sat in her wheelchair during the event.
Lawyers for the paraplegic shooter say it's a win for all disabled people.
The champion shooter was delighted to notch up another win but not prepared to discuss it.
She left that to her lawyer.
It demonstrates that in our modern society disabled people must be included in all aspects of society.
Mrs Kosmala took the South Australian Small Bore and Air Rifle Association to the Equal Opportunity Tribunal
after she thought she won the 1994 Champion of Club Champions event.
Even though she scored the highest number of points, she was disqualified.
The association felt the paraplegic athlete had an unfair advantage
because she sat down during the event while other competitors stood up.
Mrs Kosmala's lawyer said the case had divided the Small Bore and Air Rifle Association.
He said the shooter didn't want compensation, just a fair process for everyone.
She also wanted her name put on the winner's trophy.
Both sides agreed to try to settle the matter outside the tribunal.
They met for nearly two hours and then reported back with a resolution.
The association says it regrets what's happened
and will make sure the rules are clear from now on so that it doesn't happen again.
But the victory doesn't mean Mrs Kosmala's name will appear on the winner's trophy.
The association says it will consider getting a separate trophy for the person who gets the highest score
no matter whether that shooter sits or stands.
Trisha Carp, 7 Nightly News.
A Williston man says he's lucky to be alive after being struck by lightning
during last night's spectacular electrical storm.
Andy McGaw believes the rubber-soled sneakers he was wearing saved his life.
The electrical storm that swept across Adelaide did more than just light up the sky.
Andy McGaw had a shocking experience in the front of his Williston home.
While he was picking up hailstones, his right arm was struck by a lightning bolt.
The next thing you know I've just been down to pick it up
and I've just got to grab his hat and just go through him from up there.
This was a mighty crash and a bang and the lights went out and my dog took off.
He came back in and his hair was standing up on end
and he was like really in a very, very, very shocked state.
I felt like about 250 volts just going straight through.
It shook you like anything.
Andy swears that his rubber-soled sneakers saved his life
and from now on members of the McGaw family will be staying inside when there's lightning about.
Lightning's all right where it is.
Just stay inside and keep the door shut, the blinds down and you should be all right.
Police disturbed two armed bandits as they were forcing a Kidman Park resident
to open his gun safe early this morning.
Neighbours raised the alarm just after 1.30 when they noticed two men wearing balaclavas.
When the intruders heard police sirens,
they dropped the owner's guns and ran off, leaving their car at the scene.
Port Adelaide detectives are investigating.
A Perth man who threatened to cripple his former girlfriend in a 50-hour siege might not be charged.
31-year-old Ivan Gavrin is now under police guard in a psychiatric hospital.
Strapped to a stretcher, convicted armed robber Ivan Gavrin is carried to an ambulance,
ending one of Australia's most unusual hostage dramas.
For two days he'd been tied by his jumper to a head frame supporting his former girlfriend's broken neck.
Any sudden move by Gavrin or police trying to grab him
and 29-year-old Natalie Babich could have been paralysed for life.
Gavrin had been on his feet since Monday afternoon, making no demands but refusing food and water.
His collapse from fatigue was inevitable.
In the last stage of negotiations, his condition deteriorated quite dramatically.
He went into a hypnotic trance.
As he blacked out, police made their move.
Negotiators covertly severed the jumper.
He realised this and then he made an attack on the lady.
The negotiators threw themselves over the lady.
Doctors say Natalie Babich was unharmed.
Under sedation, she'd slipped through the dramatic climax to the 50-hour siege.
Geoff Brouche, Seven Island News.
Premier Brown has returned home from his three-week trade mission to Europe and China
with olives and the Olympics on his mind.
The Premier is confident that South Australia can become Italy's olive oil gateway to Asia
and hopes he's attracted some top world athletes here to train.
A travel-weary Premier today, but Dean Brown was brimming with exciting news.
Or should that be potentially exciting news as many of the deals he brokered are still maybes.
However, he's confident his mission will achieve trade boosts with Greece,
Italian manufacturing connections, a private enterprise lighting deal
and selling South Australia as a training venue in the Sydney 2000 build-up.
He says French and Chinese athletes were the main targets.
In his opinion...
This trip has been very effective indeed.
But after 20 days and across many countries, just how long until the Premier secures the new contract?
Well, in many cases, it's not up to me to sign the deals.
The Premier was literally offering the olive branch to Italian businesses.
He says we have the ideal climate here for large-scale olive oil production
to service burgeoning Asian markets.
Currently, Australian olive oil imports total $100 million annually.
With South Australia today recording the country's second highest quarterly gross state product figures,
Dean Brown now wants a bigger slice of the export action.
And Mr Brown even had some export trivia.
Concrete statutes going from South Australia into Greece.
But on matters of the MP's travel allowances, the Hindmarsh Island bridge construction
and other domestic matters, he says please give him a chance to touch base.
Mike Smithson, Seven Nightly News.
Prime Minister John Howard has attacked Paul Keating's claim
that Australia must become a republic to be accepted in Asia.
But worries back home have followed Mr Howard to Japan
in the shape of his industrial relations reforms.
In Tokyo, Mr Howard began his day meeting with the Japanese Trade Minister.
But then, a glitch.
The Prime Minister hurriedly cut a paragraph from his speech to Japanese businessmen
which conceded his industrial relations reforms could spark a confrontation with unions
and cost jobs in the short term.
Instead, he emphasised the positives.
Our agenda for industrial relations reform is far-reaching, fundamental and responsible.
Back home, industrial relations minister Peter Reath also admitted
disputes would rise ahead of the coalition's new laws.
This is not the lull before the storm.
This is the small flurry of a storm before the lull.
The opposition seized on the admissions.
He should have been as completely honest as his speechwriter tried to make him.
Tomorrow, Mr Howard gets to put a more optimistic gloss on the benefits of his reforms
when he meets with the Japanese Prime Minister, Mr Hashimoto.
Tokyo, Glenn Milne, 7 Nightly News.
Coming up, the American cancer patient who owes his life to the doctors of South Australia.
And Icelandic singer Björk, the target of a suicidal bomb maker.
Jeepers, creepers, where'd you get those beepers?
Classic jazz from the golden era in jazz greats.
Every fortnight, a different star on CD or cassette.
60 minutes of jazz.
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And a magazine to give you the stories behind the sounds.
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Part 1, Billie Holiday. Out now, $3.95.
This was flown by Revlon 999.
Breakfast at the Murphy's is always mayhem.
While Paul just settles for a quiet cup of coffee.
The Dillons are famous for their traditional Sunday brunch.
But Steve and Alex are happy to serve up something light.
The fact is, everyone kicks off their morning in their own way.
But getting Australia off to a good start every day always needs something fresh.
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That's why they call us the Fresh Food Beagle.
He's back.
John Thor with the Knox Malcolm story.
You went back to bury the body.
In a brand new Inspector Morse.
8.30 Friday on 7.
While debate rages over South Australia's health system.
There's one man who's traveled halfway around the world to get life-saving treatment here.
Jim Turner was given up for dead by American doctors.
They wouldn't treat him for cancer unless he came up with $200,000.
The doctor looked at me, confirmed it was cancer.
But then also confirmed we had no health insurance.
And essentially shrugged his shoulders and said, well, sorry, can't help you.
And got up and walked out of the room.
But Jim Turner is alive and kicking, no thanks to the medical attention he got in America
when problems with a wisdom tooth turned into something much more sinister.
With death a matter of weeks away, Jim and Adelaide-born wife Wendy dropped everything
and flew back here for treatment at the Royal Adelaide.
They had to beg and borrow $21,000 for the medical costs, but it saved Jim's life.
And he got extra special house calls from his doctor.
Then he got real serious and said, now I've got some medication that I think is very important that you take.
And of course the serious look on his face, we thought, oh no, what's going on?
So he opened his briefcase, pulled out a bottle of McLaren Vale Red.
Now Jim wants to thank South Australians for their care and friendship.
And he's doing it through his books.
One already published featuring a rough diamond South Aussie character
and a work in progress partly set in Adelaide.
I wanted to say yes.
This is the kind of character that I admire.
This is what I want to have in my book and this is what I did.
More lives could be saved and the waiting time for transplants significantly cut
thanks to a new organ donation agency which has opened in the city.
It's been set up to find more donors by approaching families of some critically ill hospital patients.
It's like a dream come true.
Dr Rod Dale Strauss owes his life to a kidney transplant.
Over 100 other South Australians are desperate for new organs
and endure lengthy treatment, sometimes for up to three years, waiting for donors to come forward.
Every second day I've got to spend three or four hours sitting on a machine.
You don't have the freedom to do what other people take for granted.
Based on the Spanish system, the agency will identify more potential donors.
In the past, up to a third have been missed.
Specialised medical teams in major hospitals will now be approaching relatives of patients.
South Australia has more donors than the rest of the country.
It's hoped the number will double by the end of the century.
It will make a big difference to the people who are on the waiting list for organ donation
and a lot of people die while on the waiting list.
And donor families haven't been forgotten.
Counselling is available to help people like Jan Thorne,
whose daughter Rachel became a donor after dying of a brain hemorrhage.
I'm very proud of my daughter and very proud that she's been able to give the gift of life.
Overseas and the tension between North and South Korea is up another notch tonight
over an alleged submarine spy mission.
It began with the stranding of a North Korean sub on a South Korean beach.
The discovery of 11 dead North Koreans ashore, apparently killed in a mass suicide.
A huge search is now on for the remaining infiltrators.
The South Koreans have already shot six dead.
Controversial pop star Bjork has become embroiled in a bizarre murder-suicide plot.
An obsessed American fan sent the Icelandic singer an acid bomb, then videotaped his own death.
From this small flat in Miami, 21-year-old Ricardo Lopez concocted his chilling plan
to kill Bjork and shoot himself because he was jealous.
Racially jealous of her new boyfriend.
He says that he is obsessed with her and that apparently she was having some relation
with an African American man. And as he put it, that was unacceptable to him.
The motive was discovered on a macabre video.
Lopez had taped himself constructing an acid letter bomb,
posting it to Bjork's record company and then committing suicide.
Police quickly alerted a post office in South London and the package was found just in time.
Staff in the sorting office were evacuated as the device was destroyed by Scotland Yard's bomb squad.
The impish Icelander, who now lives in London, has gone to extreme lengths
to protect her nine-year-old son from the spotlight.
Now, she says, she fears for his life.
I think it's very sad, you know. I was more worried about my son, really,
but he seemed to deal with it in a very brave manner.
But this latest scare won't stop her next tour, which begins next week.
In London, Neil Warren, Seven Nightly News.
Now it's time for Max. G'day, sport.
G'day, Graham. A real finals feel tonight. Garvel and Contacts play down Sunday's GF.
Bruce Abernathy looks at the SA NFL and all the latest from the Essendon camp.
Tonight... Yes?
...for anyone who's ever had a blind date...
Calm down. You set me up with a woman I've dumped twice in the last five months.
...it's the funniest friends yet.
Was it good for you?
Coke brings you the telecast of Friends tonight.
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5.30 tomorrow, Australia's favourite game.
And here is our brand new carry-over champion from last evening.
Versus the computer designer and the dancer.
Ready to roll, it's...
Sub-Doc!
On the Wheel, 5.30 tomorrow on 7.
Good evening.
Essendon has just completed its final training session
before heading to Sydney for its preliminary training session.
Dwayne Russell joins us live from Windy Hill.
And Dwayne, the only injury worry I understand for the Bombers
is Mark McCury.
Yes, Max, although Mark McCury and the entire Essendon side
trained very well tonight, and I suppose the best man to ask
is the man next to me, Sean Denham.
Mark McCury, trained well tonight, probably will play.
Yeah, trained very well tonight, Moogs, and looked really good
and hopefully be right for Saturday night's game.
And there will be some guys, I suppose, disappointed.
It's going to be a tough night at selection tonight.
Yeah, it'll be a very hard night tonight.
Justin Blomfield is up for selection and Chris Danaher
and, you know, his reserves are playing very well
and there's a few players that might come in for sure.
Now, I asked Kevin Sheedy earlier this year
about the fact that it seems to change your game plan every week
and he said, and I quote, you have to,
because sometimes you're playing the Martians,
sometimes you're playing the Eskimos.
Now, your unpredictability to opposition sides
has been good this year, though.
Has been very good, yeah.
We've got a very good team,
and it's been very good, yeah.
We've got a very mobile side
and certainly players can play at the back end or in attack
and so it's very good to have a side like that
where you can move it around quite well.
And last of all, a couple of guys had an accident
on the way to training tonight, Ben Dool and Damian Hardwick.
Yeah, Damian rode his car off
and it's a good start to the build-up to the game, isn't it?
Fantastic.
Hopefully they have better luck on the weekend.
And just, Max, confirming your story from last night,
Tony Lockett will be named in the Sydney Swans team.
Good on you, Dwane.
Well, Andrew Jarman will be playing for his football future
this week when Norwood takes on the Eagles
in the first semi of the local competition.
AFL interest in the former Crow is dwindling
and a red-hot performance is a must on Sunday at Football Park.
Andrew Jarman's options are limited.
He can't sign with a new club unless Adelaide agrees to a trade.
Port Adelaide won't pick him as one of its four uncontracted players,
and if the Crows delist him, he'll probably try the draft.
But most important is a good game for Norwood against the Eagles this weekend.
Jarz has found out.
I mean, it's bloody hard to go backwards and forwards like a yo-yo,
let alone to come into a final against a sidelight Port.
Another player to fill the Crows' wrath is Wayne Wiedemann,
and he'll be able to impress, amongst others, Port Adelaide officials.
Well, I've backdated my age to under 25,
so hopefully if they read that in the papers they'll have a look.
But I mean, certainly it'd be nice to be a part of that down there.
The last time the two clubs met in September was the 1993 Grand Final.
Oh, nah, look, that was probably the worst day of my life.
I think the only highlight was when the big fella here gave me a big smooch and a pat.
Neither would pick the winner.
Picking the loser was more diplomatic.
Norwood.
Pig's arse.
In the other final on Sunday, former central coach,
now Port Adelaide power recruiting manager Alan Stewart,
will be looking on with interest.
It'd be fantastic for the club and the area if they did win an SA NFL Grand Final,
and obviously if they beat Port Adelaide in that Grand Final,
it would be great for everyone down there,
and I think I'd be reasonably happy as well.
You wouldn't cop as much at work at the moment?
I'd cop plenty here, I think.
And down at Crowland, a new signing.
Former Norwood coach Neil Craig has been appointed as a specialist coach.
He'll be directly involved in player conditioning.
Bruce Abernathy, Seven Nightly News.
On Sunday, another chapter will be written in the long-running Garvel-Contax story.
They have dominated local netball
and are set to fight out their 10th consecutive Grand Final.
1987, Australia lost the America's Cup, Ferrari won in Adelaide,
North won the flag, and Port said goodbye to Russell Ebert.
A lot has changed, but in netball, the more things change,
the more they stay the same.
Yet another Contax-Garvel Grand Final.
They deliberately take players out of the game behind the play.
They share an intense rivalry.
Garvel leads 6-3 and has won the last four.
Now it's time to go to war again.
We're not rough.
Oh, things are getting pretty nasty out there.
But we play hard.
And the call goes the other way.
Oh, surprise, surprise.
You know, you're just going hard for the ball,
and sometimes you do see players going for the other player,
but no, you've just got to go out there
and supposedly a non-Contax sport, but yeah, it can get very physical.
It's Avelino's fifth and last Grand Final for the Grays.
It's also Mark Angove's last game as Contax coach.
And with the National League set to start next year,
this match marks the end of an era in local netball.
Who will win?
You won by 15 goals in the first final against Garvel,
and you can't ask for much more than that,
so this year is definitely the year.
Paul Childs, Seven Nightly News.
And for tonight, that is our sport. Good night.
Here's Jane.
Thanks, Max.
Next on Seven Nightly News, the weather.
Yes, Wilsey's back. And front.
With all the details after the break.
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Today Tonight follows the news.
And now with a preview.
Here's Lee.
Thanks, Graham.
Tonight, Australia's remarkable double take.
There are most identical twins.
And they're so alike, even they get themselves mixed up.
There's lots of photos that we do not know who we are.
Plus, New Crow's coach, Malcolm Blight,
tells who he thinks will take this year's Premiership flag.
Those stories and more at 6.30.
Thanks, Lee.
Now with all the weather news, here's Wilsey.
Thanks, Jane.
Hello, everyone.
Our maximum today, 15 at 1 o'clock this afternoon.
The lowest 10.6 to 25 per state this morning.
Currently, it's a cold 10 in the city.
Now, all the weather, as you can see,
is over the southern part of the continent,
and the storms have now moved over Victoria and New South Wales.
The winds over our state today were cold southwesterlies,
and there were scattered showers and some hail
over the settled areas and the southern interiors.
It is going to remain cool to cold across the settled areas tomorrow.
More showers are expected in the south,
and then those isolated showers will hang around the southern coasts
and ranges on Saturday.
Sunday, fine and warm at first,
ahead of more showers coming with another front.
And around the country tomorrow, it's going to be fine in Perth,
Alice Springs and Darwin.
Some thundery rain expected in Brisbane,
and showers right down the eastern seaboard.
Now, there were scattered showers
over most of our state districts today
in the highest 4 to 3 o'clock, 5 millimetres at Parafield.
Temperatures have been quite a lot below average.
They've ranged from 10 at Mount Corbett up to 26 at Mount Dare.
Our state forecast is for isolated thunderstorms
with hail and scattered showers
over the settled areas and the southern interiors.
It is going to remain cool to cold
with moderate to fresh southwesterly winds.
On our local waters, those winds will be at 15 to 20 knots at times
with the seas to around 1.5 metres
and down to 8 tonight in the city,
and a few showers cold and possibly hailed tomorrow
and a maximum of only 14 degrees. Yuck.
But becoming fine on Saturday,
showers returning sometime late on Sunday.
But I'll tell you more about that tomorrow night.
Till then, good night.
Looks good for the weekend. Thanks, Wilsey.
Finally, a first-time driver is in strife
in the American state of Michigan
after leaving behind a trail of destruction.
The young lady put the car into reverse
and headed down the road, ploughing into a wall,
bouncing through an intersection and colliding with a bus.
Police won't be laying charges, though,
because the driver is just three years old.
They are, however, talking to her very embarrassed mother.
You would be, wouldn't you?
I reckon you did pretty well for a three-year-old, actually.
You're like one of those ads on the telly.
I've seen some older ones do worse. Here's Lee.
Good luck.
Hello, and welcome to Today Tonight.
Thank you for joining me.
Tonight, pedestrian peril.
More and more are being run down,
and it's no wonder with drivers like this.
It's the old syndrome that won't happen to me
that's very much alive out there.
What price is life?
Now, if you're a pedestrian,
you should really take care of yourself.
Next time you're visiting a doctor or a specialist,
try sneaking a peek at what's written on your medical record,
because the chances are that's the last you'll ever see of it.
Julie Breen learned that lesson the hard way.
For seven years now,
she's been fighting a courtroom battle
to try and gain access to her own medical records.
But the High Court has ruled against her,
and she's been trying to get access to her own medical records.
But the High Court has ruled against her,
and it's a decision that could affect private patients everywhere.
Ros Thomas has the story.
She was a 70s pinup, adored by Australians,
a blue-eyed blonde who became a famous cover girl.
But in the early 80s, Julie Breen,
like thousands of Australian women,
decided to get silicon breast implants.
The pain was horrific.
I was crying and screaming, and it was so bad.
I mean, even just hearing it was bad enough,
hearing your own body tissue crumbling, that he had to stop.
And he then did put me in hospital because of the pain.
The implants ruptured when the doctors tried to crush them.
Julie's body became riddled with silicon.
It took two partial mastectomies
and five operations to repair the damage.
I have no feeling in my left breast whatsoever,
and I do get a lot of pain inside and down my arm.
Julie joined 6,000 other Australians
in a bid to sue the Dow Corning Corporation.
But to launch her claim in America,
Julie needed to prove she'd had the implants in the first place.
For the past seven years,
she's been fighting a bitter legal battle with her doctors
to obtain her original medical records.
The case went all the way to the High Court,
but it ruled she had no right to have them.
I was shocked. I really did think we'd win this one.
Unlike the majority of Australians,
I assumed initially that we had automatic access to our medical records.
And when we didn't, I fought to get that,
and I thought that the law would be on our side.
But I've been devastated.
Well, the expectation was that we would win.
Obviously, we thought Australia was right for this sort of decision,
particularly given that there was ample authority
from the US, Canada and the UK.
Julie's solicitor, Vera Kulkov,
claims the case has set a dangerous precedent.
It means Australians in private health care
will now have to sue their doctors
for access to their own personal medical records.
I think what it means for people like you and I, for example,
is that I can approach a doctor now and say,
I would like my medical records because I intend traveling overseas.
The doctor can turn around and say,
they're my property, you can't have them.
I pay for everything. I pay for his time.
I pay for the equipment that he uses to examine me.
I'm sure I pay for whatever it is he writes those reports on.
And in effect, I feel I own those reports.
But the doctor at the centre of the debate insists
the decision doesn't change anything.
Well, the medical records contain the medical information
to which you're entitled.
And at any time, if you wish that medical information,
for whatever reason, I'll write a report
which contains all that medical information
to assist your treatment.
The medical records, however, themselves
contain a considerable amount of other information,
including my own private thoughts,
which are my own intellectual property, if you will.
And as the court has found, these belong to me.
You don't, as a patient, have immediate and unconditional access
to my own private papers.
Go!
We don't want reports from the doctors.
We want the actual records,
because I think it's fair to assume in 80 or 90% of cases
those doctors are going to write a subjective analysis
of those doctors' reports.
They're not going to give us the whole thing, hold us, bowl us.
The decision is a major setback for Australian women
who've been given a February deadline
to join the American class action against Dow Corning.
A new legal hiccup could cost them valuable time.
And I have something like 14 doctors I have to subpoena.
So that's just the beginning.
It's going to be costly,
and it's going to be very, very time-consuming.
All up you're looking at between $120 and $150 per subpoena.
You multiply that by 10,
it works out to be a very, very costly exercise.
What's astounding about the High Court decision
is that it has no bearing on public hospital patients.
They can access their medical history
through the Freedom of Information Act,
now the pressures on the federal government
to change the law to give private patients the same powers.
My 13-year-old son summed it up, and he really...
I was very upset by what he said.
He said, I've learned a lesson today, Mom.
He said, you can't trust anybody, there's no justice in this world.
And I thought that was so really, really sad,
because they're the future generation,
and that's the way he saw what happened in those courts.
Well, if you've ever had a near miss while crossing the street,
you'll know how terrifying the experience can be.
It seems there's no shortage of drivers
prepared to run down just about anything
that gets in their way.
It's those drivers who are responsible
for a shocking wave of pedestrian deaths
right across the country.
And, well, we've caught them.
Speeding through pedestrian crossings, ignoring red lights,
and showing an arrogant disregard for the law.
Coz has the story.
It horrifies me as a pedestrian to think that
I have to take extreme care when I try to cross the road.
Every time you go out on the streets,
you can be putting your life on the line.
And to prove just how risky it is being a pedestrian,
take a look at the way these drivers,
caught on hidden camera, disobey the road rules.
All motorists are pedestrians at some point in time.
However, when they get behind the wheel,
they seem to forget the needs of pedestrians
and to take care and be aware of them.
The father under had seen the car coming,
turned to whine his mother,
but it was too late, the car hit them.
What official traffic cameras have captured is staggering.
Pedestrians dicing with death,
and motorists breaking the law.
We've seen motorists driving through red lights
at pedestrian crossings.
We've seen pedestrians start to go out on a green signal
and a tiny motorist drive straight through blowing the horn.
There are signs and pavement markers
to warn of the approach to the crossing.
And be aware of pedestrians that are on the side of the road
and obviously wanting to cross,
and they must then slow down and stop and let them cross.
Motorists in the main have a pipeline vision.
They should take in the whole picture
and be more vigilant of pedestrians.
Pedestrians, too, need to be more wary.
Most deaths happen when people carelessly walk onto a road
into the path of a moving vehicle.
What price is life?
Now, if you're a pedestrian, you should really take care of yourself.
And it stands out, there's a lot of complacency out there.
A lot of the time, I believe, it's just trying to save some time
and maybe some inattention.
So there are small factors, but the end results are very horrific.
Of course, the busier the road,
the harder and more dangerous it is to cross.
Highways and busy city streets, known black spots.
Vigilance is the bottom line.
They must look to their left, look to their right, look to their left.
They've been taught this at a young age, and yet we're not doing it.
Use the proper phases of the crossings at red lights and so forth
and for the sake of walking for a few metres to a pedestrian crossing,
it's well worth it to cross the road safely.
Remember, though, they don't guarantee a safe crossing far from it,
as people using this one found out.
It's the old syndrome that won't happen to me
that's very much alive out there.
So really, they should not take for granted that vehicles will stop.
They must ensure that vehicles have stopped
before they commence to cross the road.
Especially at traffic lights.
While most of us know red means stop,
there are a lot of drivers who don't,
like the person behind the wheel of this car.
And he's not the only one who ignores the red light at this crossing.
Watch the black truck zoom right on through.
They have a duty to give way to pedestrians at intersections
and they should fulfil that duty.
But having said that, it's also the duty, as I said earlier on,
for the pedestrian to make sure that that vehicle has stopped.
In the end, it comes down to equal responsibility.
Both motorists and pedestrians are too complacent
and police are urging them to be more alert.
We can only do so much and at the end of the day,
it comes down to the motorists and the pedestrian, the individual.
They have to take final responsibility for what they do.
After the break, spot the difference.
We'll introduce you to Australia's most identical twins.
I don't think there's a day that goes by
that someone doesn't come up and say, are you twins?
He's back.
John Thor with the Knox Malcolm story.
You went back to bury the body.
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The human lung is like a sponge.
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Before he can join me as a dine food critic,
young Percival must discover for himself the secret of dine petite gold.
Could it be the ingredients?
The finest, the freshest, the most succulent?
Or is it the tantalisingly different recipes?
Let's see. One small bite from each one.
I said one.
I think Percival's discovered the secret.
Dine petite gold. There's no finer way to dine.
On full-throttle flashbacks, the X-Files concert.
He came and took my garbage.
The cranberries.
Plus Elvis' sister and that milk ad.
It's totally outrageous. 8.30 tonight on 7.
Well, they were born at the same hour on the same day.
And you can't tell them apart.
They have the same hair, the same eyes, the same build, the same clothes.
Would you believe even the same pets, houses and voices?
Ivy and Margaret Sutton are Australia's most identical twins.
And they're in a growing club of siblings,
which has scientists turning somersaults of excitement.
Here's Janet Gibson.
My sister.
I don't think there's a day goes by that someone doesn't come up and say,
are you twins?
My sister.
We're twins.
You just don't think you're any different at all.
It's just what other people think you are.
You just wonder why they're so silly about things.
I know who I am. She knows who she is.
Everybody else doesn't know who we are.
All twins Margaret and Ivy Sutton really don't know what all the fuss is about.
Of course they know they're alarmingly similar.
They can't even pick themselves out in early photos.
We don't know who we are in the photo,
but we've actually chosen who we are simply because we both can remember the toys.
So unless somebody gave us the wrong toy to hold in the photo,
we've claimed that picture as being me,
because there's lots of photos that we do not know who we are.
But while living with a mirror image comes naturally to them,
it's hard to pretend identical twins aren't fascinating.
My sister.
Are you too special?
Identical twins are the splitting of a single first life egg
sometime between conception and about 12 days later.
Any later than that, it doesn't split and you've got Siamese twins.
And it's not just natural curiosity that has us studying human double acts.
They're a bonanza for scientists.
This is the first time these two identical twins have looked into each other's face.
Lucky Collins and Diane Clark were given up for adoption at birth more than 40 years ago.
They're a real find for scientists who can study just how their environment
has affected two genetically identical people.
As in the case of these two men, also identical twins, also separated at birth.
The twin on the left, Jack Ufer, was raised in America as a Jew.
Oscar Storr, the twin on the right, was raised in Germany, a member of Hitler Youth.
Yet when studied, these men had remarkably similar habits and tastes.
It became apparent just from working with the twins right away
that there was just a lot of similarity across all kinds of behavioral characteristics.
And so I started to suspect, well, you know, maybe they're going to show
a genetic effect on everything, and that's more or less what happened.
One of the most famous twin studies was conducted in America during the late 80s,
focusing on identical twins who'd been brought up separately.
They started with the Jim tweenlands, Jim Springer and Jim Lewis.
They never met till they were in their 40s, yet they'd married wives with the same names,
divorced them and then remarried wives again with the same names.
They'd given their sons the same name with slightly different spelling.
Their dogs were both called Toy, and they had similar hobbies, homes and jobs.
Ambulances rushed the brothers to hospital. They both died minutes apart.
Australians learned of the inseparable similarity of Perth's Bloomfield brothers
only after one of the brothers suffered a heart attack at the Burswood Casino.
And then some two minutes later we received another call for another patient collapse,
and it turned out that they were actually twin brothers.
Ambulance officers called it a tragic coincidence,
but people were mystified by the brothers' death within minutes of each other
by the fact it was almost impossible to distinguish Bill from John,
both having the same scar resulting from identical hip operations.
Two people were incredibly close, so clearly the loss of the other person is a big stressor,
and at their age they may well have been quite a strong predisposition to heart disease.
So put the two things together and you get this very, very unusual situation.
Professor David Hay of Western Australia's Curtin University says
twins who live together that closely are becoming more and more rare.
Often male twins, identical twins, will begin to go the separate ways.
They don't see the twinship as being such a big deal.
But quite a few identical females, it will be a very, very important relationship.
And I've sometimes spoken to adult female identical twins who say,
look, my husband's important to me, my kids are important to me,
but my twin is the one who's really important to me.
I used to think, who's going to die first, her or me, and who would cope?
But I think I could cope if she'd die.
I've always said, probably far better that Ivy dies before me.
This is a lovely topic of conversation.
But you do think about it, but I think now the way I think I'll cope.
As twins, Ivy and Margaret Sutton have a special sympathy for the Bloomfields.
They too live together, but not in the same isolated way as the Bloomfield brothers.
Both nurses and both unmarried, Ivy and Margaret have independently adopted disabled kids.
Ivy was first adopting Tanya eight years ago.
Went into the program with the understanding that I was Auntie Mark and Ivy was Mum.
Tanya had no problems.
As soon as she came home, she never mixed us up at all.
She reckoned that her mother had curly hair and I had straight hair.
Ivy, do you want any milk?
I've got a little bit.
They divided their block into two and now live in identical houses.
Tanya and the supposedly curly-haired Ivy in one house,
and Margaret and the little four-year-old girl she's still in the process of adopting in the other,
along with a collection of prize Maltese dogs, which they breed.
There are times that you want to be the same, and there's times that you want to be separate,
and you want to make those decisions yourself rather than somebody telling you
that you should be dressed the same today or no, you shouldn't,
or you should choose a different career than what the other one's done.
And I believe it's pretty rare to get twins, identicals, getting to 100 together.
We might do it.
But I think we'll manage that with positive attitude, don't you think?
Yeah.
I think we're both hyperactive. I think we could really...
We'll keep the convalescent homes on their toes.
It's a remarkable bond, isn't it?
Now, after the break, finals footy tips from Malcolm Blight,
not on the football field, but on the fairway.
Heard. He's so smart. He's a smart player.
He's not a... He's a smart player. He knows what to do.
And he knows when the team's in trouble.
That's unusual news. Is that what you're saying?
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Can you help me, Mrs Lee?
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Well, it's not exactly golf weather over there in soggy Melbourne,
but that did not deter new crows coach Malcolm Blight
and expatriate cricketer David Hooks
from taking to the Greens for a hit.
Now, some say a game of golf is the best way to spoil a nice walk,
but Neil Curley decided to spoil the game of golf
by barging in and trying for a hole in one
with this week's footy finals tips.
And here it is.
What a scene at the MCG as the Bombers advance to the preliminary final.
Farewell, the Eagles, in red and black.
It's sudden death finals time and the last grass
for incredible grand final glory for Sydney and Brisbane.
There it is!
Our experts have been right on the ball so far.
Both Curls and the Professor have tipped all six finals played,
with three left to play.
Joining Curls for this week's pair are David Hooks and Malcolm Blight
on the first tee at Huntingdale.
Now, you blokes have seen a lot of footy this year.
David, 12 months over here with 3AW, you've seen a lot of footy.
And Malcolm, of course, with seven that year, you've seen a lot of footy.
I think the four best teams are left in the comp,
and I see this week as two tough games.
The Bears haven't travelled that well.
Collingwood beat them just two weeks ago in the season proper.
They had a good win against Carlton, but they were on the downer,
so I think North deservedly start favourites in that game at the G.
How do you see that one?
Brisbane have been one of the MCGs since 1988.
That's eight years.
Could have someone done his homework.
Haven't played there this year at all.
But I'm surprised, Malcolm, that North are 10-4 on, and Brisbane 18-10.
Is it that much difference?
Here come the Bears, first time inside 50, pushing and shoving.
Back of the pack, running on the ball is McRae.
Can he get down here?
Christian kicks out and runs.
I saw Brisbane last week, actually in the flesh, and they ran and worked.
But their work rate is absolutely fantastic,
and the way they slip that ball out quickly on reflex give,
they're going to take a bit of beating.
A flick back towards the middle, the tackling's been sensational.
Ashcroft got Whitehead, Clark got the hand pass out to McRae,
and away they go again.
He runs his full distance, in towards full forward,
leeches the target, couldn't take the mark.
The robing's done, there's another goal on the board.
So you've gone?
I have to go for North Melbourne, did I?
Yeah, I think I favour North.
I think they're the best side in the comp, particularly on the G.
Now, the other one, the tough one,
because Essendon last week was superb against Sydney.
You've been there this time of the year.
Malcolm, do you play an unfit locket
and say that at 70% fitness he's better than the next bloke,
or do you leave him out?
I think the golden rule always applies.
If you aren't fit, you shouldn't play him.
I thought Essendon last week, though, against West Coast,
were as sharp and as confident as I've seen him.
Of course, they've got that number five guy, Herd.
He's so smart, he's a smart player.
He's not a...
He's a smart player, he knows what to do.
He knows when the team's in trouble.
That's unusual, is that what you're saying?
Well, you know what we say about footballers,
but OK, so Essendon, Sydney.
Well, no home side's lost the finals yet, have they?
And we're perhaps going to go against both of them this time.
I think, well, Melbourne will win, North Melbourne,
but I think that Sydney will lose.
I think Sydney have been fantastic all year,
but it just might be tough, particularly if locket doesn't play.
I'm staying for Sydney.
The professor says both games will be close,
but he's tipping the Kangaroos and the Swans
in the grand final.
That's not too good out there.
Well, it's not the MCG and it's not Puddy Park,
but it's just as damn wet in it.
It is pretty wet, too.
Melbourne, Melbourne weather's unbelievable.
Yeah, spring in Melbourne's like that.
Here is the weather.
Now we'll be back with more right after the break.
I'd say we just loved each other and looked after each other.
That was the idea.
We were obliged to do that,
otherwise we wouldn't have been married.
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Next has Kelly been caught red-handed.
Plus a joyride to disaster on Home and Away.
Followed by Seven's Comedy Thursday with friends,
Ellen and Full Frontal.
Now coming up tomorrow night, Jack and Marge Baker
and the marriage that's a lesson to us all.
70 years of wedded bliss and they're still going strong.
Here's your cup of tea there.
Thank you very much.
Enjoy it.
You go on to the end, but you didn't think it was going to last that long.
Here you are. Here's your biscuit.
Thank you.
Come on, cuddle up.
Put your arm up.
Sit your arm up right under you.
That's it.
Did you enjoy your cup of tea?
Yes, thank you. It was nice.
Oh, they're lovely. That's tomorrow night.
Until then, enjoy your evening. Good night.
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