AAP National News Wire Round-Up for Breakfast, Dec 7

AAP General News (Australia)
12-07-2007
AAP National News Wire Round-Up for Breakfast, Dec 7
Breakfast Round-Up: HIGHLIGHTS OF THE AAP RTV FILE AT 0430


Climate Bali Rudd (BRISBANE)

The prime minister says his government will only set carbon emission targets that are
economically responsible.

KEVIN RUDD's promise follows Opposition Leader BRENDAN NELSON's warning yesterday ..

that targets supported by the Australian delegation at climate change talks in Bali would
devastate the economy.

A delegate told the UN talks .. Canberra backs the idea of reducing emissions by 25-to-40
per cent by 2020 .. but Mr RUDD says his government doesn't agree with the target.

Mr RUDD says the target was decided by the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate
Change earlier this year .. and Canberra takes the same position as other countries which
don't necessarily accept the targets.



Education (CANBERRA)

Schools will be invited to apply for up to one million dollars each to buy computer
and technology equipment for students and classrooms.

Federal cabinet yesterday signed the first stage of Prime Minister KEVIN RUDD'S education
revolution .. giving every student in years nine to 12 access to their own computer at
school.

The total package is worth one billion dollars .. to be split among schools which will
be able to apply for funding for technological resources from March next year.

Mr RUDD says schools will be able to spend the money on computers .. interactive whiteboards
.. broadband connections .. digital projectors and other equipment.



Health Roxon (SYDNEY)

The federal government will make an urgent start today on cutting elective surgery
waiting lists for thousands of patients.

Fairfax reports patients will get operations from early next year under a 100 million
dollar blitz planned by federal Health Minister NICOLA ROXON.

Ms ROXON will meet state and territory health ministers today to advance the plan ..

which is part of a 600-million dollar longer-term strategy.

Fairfax says public and private hospitals will be able to bid for the operations under
the new scheme .. which aims to deal with delays and introduce a public hospital report-card
system on waiting lists.



Liberals (CANBERRA)

Opposition Leader BRENDAN NELSON has tried to remove the cloud of Work Choices from
his first shadow frontbench .. dumping KEVIN ANDREWS .. the man who introduced the unpopular
laws.

Mr ANDREWS was the biggest casualty in the opposition's frontbench shake-up .. which
has seen the rise of some new faces and the return of some old ones.

After being dumped from the HOWARD ministry in 2001 .. BRONWYN BISHOP's been given
a new lease of political life as veterans affairs spokeswoman.

Two barely known Victorian MPs have been parachuted from the backbench into top shadow
cabinet spots .. GREG HUNT in climate change and TONY SMITH in education.



Liberals Bishop (CANBERRA)

Deputy Liberal leader Julie Bishop says former treasurer PETER COSTELLO was not approached
to take on a frontbench role in opposition at his own request.

Ms BISHOP told ABC television last night Mr COSTELLO had not been asked to figure on
the new coalition frontbench because he had asked not to be involved.



Telstra Broadband (SYDNEY)

Telstra boss SOL TRUJILLO has torpedoed the new federal government's proposed approach
to achieve a broadband and education revolution.

Mr TRUJILLO has bluntly rejected the new government's proposal for a partnership to
build a national broadband network.

The Australian newspaper reports the Telstra chief executive says the company will
never agree to the government's suggestion of a form of joint ownership .. mocking it
as some sort of "kumbaya, holding hands" theory.



Pokies (SYDNEY)

New South Wales is reducing its cap on the number of poker machines.

Fairfax reports Gaming and Racing Minister GRAHAM WEST will today announce the statewide
cap on poker machines will be reduced by five thousand to 99-thousand .. with plans to
reduce the cap even further over time.



Bushfires SA (ADELAIDE)

A man's body has been found in a bushfire ravaged area of Kangaroo Island.

South Australian police say no other details are available.

Police communications Senior Sergeant MICK GRESCH says more information will be available
at 6am (ACDT).

The Country Fire Service yesterday deployed two water bombing aircraft to a bushfire
in the Western River Conservation Park on Kangaroo Island .. south of Adelaide.

About 150 hectares had been burnt .. but the fire was not threatening homes or properties.



Missing (BRISBANE)

The search resume this morning for a Malaysian student who saved a woman from drowning
off south-east Queensland yesterday .. and likely lost his own life in the process.

Police say the 25-year-old man went missing off Moreton Island yesterday afternoon
after helping a woman in difficulty.

The man was with a group of Malaysian students from the University of Queensland camping
at Honeymoon Bay with Brisbane-based Blue Planet Tours.



Rail (SYDNEY)

Engineers have reportedly bungled construction of a Sydney rail tunnel .. making it
too steep for CityRail's new trains.

The Daily Telegraph reports the Epping to Chatswood link will have to be serviced by
30-year-old trains .. which the New South Wales government had promised to phase out.

The newspaper reports a late design change .. in favour of a rail tunnel instead of
a bridge .. created Sydney steepest 3.5km section of track.



BRIEFLY IN OTHER NEWS:



Australian drug trafficker HOLLY DEANE-JOHNS is due to fly into Perth from Thailand
today .. to serve the rest of her jail term back home.




Prime Minister KEVIN RUDD says his cabinet will continue to meet in various parts of
the country .. after its first meeting in Brisbane yesterday.




The Prime Minister has promised to crack down on bad behaviour by his ministers ..

releasing a code of conduct that tightens accountability.




In the United States .. it's emerged a 19-year-old school dropout .. who shot and killed
eight people at a shopping mall .. had lost both his job and girlfriend and believed he
was worthless.



IN FINANCE:


Rates (ADELAIDE)

Experts say home loan interest rates will top nine per cent early next year.

The alarming forecast has come from the South Australian Centre for Economic Studies.

It says there'll be significant rate rises next year to control inflation .. which
is still building in the economy despite recent rate rises.

The centre expects the Reserve Bank to lift interest rates by 0.5 percentage points
in the first half of 2008 .. taking the home loan rate to about 9.1 per cent.

The Reserve this week left its key official cash rate at an 11-year high of 6.75 per
cent .. having raised rates 10 times since 2002.



ABARE Climate (CANBERRA)

Australia's commodity forecaster says the impact of climate change will chisel five
per cent off the nation's economic output by 2050.

The Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics has urged the development
of policies .. encouraging climate-change adjustment in vulnerable agriculture sectors.

Its report has also called for more research and development .. to be done in both
climate-change adaption and mitigation technologies.

The ABARE report shows the effects of climate change will push sugar exports down 79
per cent by 2050 .. while beef exports will sink more than one-third .. and sheep meat
will decline by over one-fifth.



AND IN SPORT:


AFL KANGAROOS BOARD (MELBOURNE)

The Kangaroos have rejected the AFL's push for the club to relocate to the Gold Coast
and have vowed to remain a Victorian-based AFL club.

The club board met yesterday afternoon after the club learnt that the AFL wouldn't
give it a 12-month moratorium to consider the proposed relocation to the Gold Coast.



CRICKET ICC RANKINGS (LONDON)

Sri Lanka batsman KUMAR SANGAKKARA has knocked Australia skipper RICKY PONTING off
the top of the International Cricket Council's (ICC) latest Test rankings.

SANGAKKARA is the first Sri Lankan to top the batting rankings after a tremendous run
of form, including a superb 152 in the first Test defeat of England this week.



SUPER BRUMBIES (BRISBANE)

Injured Wallabies skipper STIRLING MORTLOCK will keep the captaincy reins of the Brumbies
in the 2008 Super 14.

The 30-year-old, eyeing a move overseas late next year, insists he is still keen to
keep the captaincy despite missing the first half of the Super 14 following shoulder surgery.



NBL DRAGONS (MELBOURNE)

South Dragons rookie SHANNON SEEBOHM was to be brought out of an induced coma last
night, after he'd collapsed during a National Basketball League training session.

The 19-year-old development player, who was also selected in the Australian under-19
team this year, was practising with teammate BRAD HILL at the Melbourne Sports and Aquatic
Centre (MSAC) on Wednesday afternoon when the incident occurred.



ENDS BREAKFAST ROUND-UP

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