What the newspapers say today, August 11 1999

AAP General News (Australia)
08-11-1999
What the newspapers say today, August 11 1999

SYDNEY, Aug 11 AAP - Australian and US officials should hold comprehensive discussions
about various military options for maintaining peace in East Timor, the Australian Financial
Review said today.

It is important, the newspaper said, that those discussions involve frank exchanges which
are not established as formal positions on a fast-changing subject.

"And it would be particularly tragic if the denials of new military responses which emerged
yesterday were to give any encouragement to the pro-Indonesia militia and their Indonesian
army supporters to react violently against a pro-independence vote."

"At the very least," the newspaper said "the US, Australian and other governments should be
leaving the militia with the fear that there will be heavy retaliation against post-poll
violence."

Writing on the same subject, The Sydney Morning Herald said there was something faintly
disquieting about the partisan political scrapping between the Minister for Foreign Affairs,
Mr Downer, and his opposition counterpart, Laurie Brereton, over East Timor.

In other circumstances, bipartisanship might prevail, the newspaper said.

"As it is, the argument between Mr Brereton and Mr Downer throws welcome light on the
complexities of Australia's response to the unfolding drama in East Timor.

"The Timor crisis has potential for much harm, beyond the long agonies suffered by the
Timorese people themselves," the Herald said.

Australia has a vital interest in seeing peace in the region but cannot expect that will
happen without its own efforts and the support of the US.

"It is vital that there be the closest cooperation between Australia and the US in dealing
with Indonesia."

The Age said in its editorial today that whatever the truth behind the suggestion that the
United States was considering sending up to 15,000 troops to East Timor, it should be
Australia rather than the US that takes the lead if the need for an international peace force
arises.

Australia has the advantage of long-standing relationships on many levels with both the
civilian and military arms of the Indonesian administration that the US does not enjoy, the
newspaper said.

"That is not to say that the US would not be welcome to contribute to any such UN force,
simply that it should not dominate it," it said.

The Age also said a meeting of 250 judges, magistrates and lawyers at the weekend heard
that they should be concerned by the cost of access to the courts.

It is not simply a question of lawyers' fees, the newspaper said.

Government must shoulder much of the responsibility by adequately funding those parts of
the system for which it is responsible.

"Anything less is a denial of justice," it said.

What has happened with the framing of the November referendum question on an Australian
republic and what preceded it is typical posturing and games playing, the Adelaide Advertiser
said in its editorial today.

It is exasperating, the newspaper said.

But what has also been useful and may well prove to have been valuable for this typically
silly business, it has given the republic debate the attention it needed.

"We are almost ready to come to collective judgment, ready to make that simple (for, at
heart, it really is quite simple) yes/no verdict."

The Herald Sun said events of November 1975 demonstrated in a dramatic way that under the
existing system a governor-general is no rubber stamp.

What guarantee is there this will not change under a republican constitution, the newspaper
asked.

And what sort of constitutional protection will the governor-general's successor as
president have against political attempts to sack him?

"Voters must have those answers before November 6," The newspaper said.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics report on the health and welfare of Aborigines and
Torres Strait Islanders catalogues once again a sad tale of high infant mortality,
unemployment, disease, violence, and early death, The Australian said today.

The figures, which showed more than half of all Aboriginal men and four out of 10
Aboriginal women who died between 1995 and 1997 were aged under 50, highlight a national
disgrace.

The Australian editorial said recent signs of a revolution in thinking and approach to the
issue of Aboriginal welfare dependency in Australia's north was not necessarily an argument
for cutting spending on Aboriginal communities.

But it is, the newspaper said, an argument for a complete overhaul of the way in which the
communities are able to resolve healthcare and social problems.

"The old policies are not working and no amount of equivocation and dissembling will
disguise that fact. As the ABS report makes clear, the problems are vast and complex," The
Australian said.

Sydney's Daily Telegraph writes in its editorial today that the plight of the 125 Oakdale
miners cheated out of $6.3 million in entitlements has not been helped by the "reprehensible
treatment" of the federal government.

The Telegraph said a meeting proposed last month with ministers Peter Reith, Nick Minchin
and John Fahey was postponed until yesterday because the ministers were overseas during the
winter recess.

It said because of government concerns over the mine closure there had been an expectation
among miners of a resolution; hope that some of their entitlements might be paid.

"They need not have bothered," the newspaper said.

"The fact there was nothing more than a promise to meet again on August 30 is all the more
galling because of it. To the miners now, it is a promise as empty as their family bank
accounts."

The Brisbane Courier-Mail editorial said that in his zeal to demonstrate to the people of
Queensland that he can be trusted over the net bet affair, Premier Peter Beattie should take
care not to go to unwise and ill-considered extremes.

The editorial said the proposal to ban MPs from owning shares in a privatised TAB is
arguably counter-productive, while the threat to take the gaming licence away from Gocorp
would mean the company would lose its most valuable asset, even though non-politicians are
also involved.

"The Premier is using - or threatening to use - a sledgehammer to crack a nut. He should
draw breath and think again," The Courier-Mail said.

AAP sr/bm

KEYWORD: EDITORIALS WEDNESDAY AUGUST 11 1999

1999 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.