Company tax top priority, says business

BUSINESS has told the federal government that balancing the budget is not their main concern, with a survey finding cuts in company tax and infrastructure spending as far more important.

According to an Australian Industry Group survey of 330 manufacturing, services and construction companies, 35 per cent listed company tax cuts as the top priority, while 33 per cent nominated infrastructure spending.

Only 16 per cent said balancing the 2013-14 budget was a top priority, Ai Group said.

"It (the survey) shows that business believes that in this current economic environment balancing the Budget is not the main game," Ai Group chief Innes Willox said in a statement.

23.41 | 0 komentar | Read More

NSW sex abuse inquiry to start Monday

A SPECIAL NSW inquiry into allegations of a child sex abuse cover-up in the Catholic Church will begin in Newcastle on Monday.

The special commission of inquiry was announced by NSW Premier Barry O'Farrell in last November, following explosive allegations made to the media by police officer Peter Fox.

Detective Chief Inspector Fox will be the first of a long list of senior police who will take the witness box when the inquiry begins in the Newcastle Supreme Court on Monday.

The senior investigator asserted the church had covered up evidence in relation to pedophile priests in the Catholic diocese of Maitland-Newcastle in the Hunter region of NSW.

The inquiry will look at how the church handled complaints about former priests Denis McAlinden and Jim Fletcher, both now deceased.

It will also look at the circumstances in which Inspector Fox was asked to stop investigating sex abuse in the diocese.

The NSW inquiry will sit for two weeks in May and three weeks through June and July.

It is separate from the Federal Royal Commission into child sex abuse.

Margaret Cunneen SC has been appointed as Special Commissioner to the inquiry.

23.41 | 0 komentar | Read More

Qld men cop highest sun risk: report

ONE in eight men and one in 12 women in Queensland get sunburnt on an average weekend, according to a report in the Medical Journal of Australia.

Young men who work outdoors appear to be most at risk, and people who take part in physical activity are more likely to report sunburn.

Sunburn is defined as redness that lasts more than 12 hours.

The report is based on interviews with 16,473 Queensland residents aged 18 years and over during 2009 and 2010. They were asked if they had been sunburnt on the previous weekend.

Queensland has the highest melanoma rate in the world.

People aged 18 to 24 years are seven times more likely to suffer sunburn than those aged over 65. People aged 35 to 44 are five times more likely to be burnt.

Sunburn is less likely among people who generally take protective measures in summer, the authors write.

"Our results are broadly consistent with a 2004 Queensland survey showing young age and male sex greatly increase odds of sunburn," write the authors from the Queensland Institute of Medical Research and the Preventive Health Unit at Queensland Health.

They say sunburn is still a major public health issue despite 50 years of attempts to educate the public.

The most common reason given for getting burnt is a failure to use sunscreen or protective clothing.

23.41 | 0 komentar | Read More

Belgian chemical train accident toll rises

THE casualty toll in Belgium from the derailing of a train carrying highly toxic chemicals -- which exploded and sent spectacular strips of fire into the night sky -- has risen dramatically to one dead and 49 injured.

Two victims were in intensive care and three of the injured were rescue workers exposed to fumes from chemicals that spilled from the train that derailed near the city of Ghent, officials said.

The accident and blaze happened around 2am (1000 AEST Saturday) and prompted authorities to evacuate around 300 people from their homes.

The victims were people living well away from the scene of the accident, and Interior Minister Joelle Milquet blamed toxic fumes from the highly flammable liquid chemicals for their injuries.

Six of the train's 13 wagons derailed and two were left lying on their sides, said Infrabel, the state-owned company that operates Belgian railways.

The blaze led to a series of explosions in the railway wagons, then a spectacular strip of fire spread over hundreds of metres prompting authorities to evacuate residents living within 500 metres of the scene of the accident.

The train was transporting the toxic chemical compound acrylonitrile, which is used in the making of plastics, officials said.

Exposure to acrylonitrile can cause headaches, dizziness, nausea and mucus membrane irritation.

Milquet said toxic fumes reached much farther, via the drainage system, than the 500-metre perimeter that was set up.

"Some of the chemical product went into the drains and caused a kind of chemical reaction with gases that are toxic and escaped into certain streets beyond the perimeter that had already been evacuated due to the fire," she said.

Firefighters let the wagons burn out in a controlled manner as water could have released further toxic chemicals.

The causes of the accident remained unclear. The cars derailed as the train changed tracks. The train driver said he had been travelling faster than the speed limit for the area.

The train came from the Netherlands and was bound for Ghent's seaport.

Train services between Schellebelle and Wetteren were disrupted and problems were expected for two days, with buses laid on to transport passengers.

Two similar accidents involving trains carrying tanks of toxic products have occurred in Belgium since May last year.

23.41 | 0 komentar | Read More