18 NATION
SATURDAY JULY 19 2014
Abbott’s
team gets
late draw
CANBERRA: The Abbott
Government has ended a rare
mid-winter sitting of Parliament with a draw and three
losses. It also got a lecture on
the value of political bipartisanship from Bill Shorten.
The draw came in the form
of easing foreign ownership
limits on Qantas after the Government
accepted
Labor
amendments to its legislation.
The deal keeps the majority
of ownership in Australia –
only lifting restrictions on
single foreign entities and
groups of foreign entities.
The Government wanted to
scrap foreign ownership rules
altogether, meaning the airline
could be bought out entirely by
international investors.
But Labor wouldn’t budge
and the compromise maintains
51 per cent of ownership in
Australian hands.
The agreement between the
major parties on what Mr
Shorten described as “a day
like no other” showed politicians had the capacity to work
together in good faith.
“We can be proud that
when it matters ... our Parliament has the sense to agree to
fair and reasonable changes
like this,” he said.
But the Qantas deal was an
exception on the final day of
sittings before a five-week
break. The two houses of Parliament could not agree on
abolishing the mining tax or
setting up a new fund to encourage the states to sell public-owned assets and use the
proceeds to pay for muchneeded infrastructure.
While the Senate voted to
abolish the mining tax, it wanted programs funded by its revenue to remain in place. The
Government says retaining the
schoolkids bonus, low-income
superannuation contribution
and the income support bonus
will cost the Budget $9.6 billion
over four years.
That wasn’t acceptable to
the Government, which used
its numbers in the lower house
to reject Senate amendments.
“It would be nice to live in a
magic pudding world ... but
when you’re in government
you’ve got to try and make
things balance up,” Government Senate leader Eric Abetz
told Parliament.
The Government also failed
to win Senate support for its
asset recycling fund.
And having suffered two
defeats yesterday., the Government opted to withdraw another contentious bill that
would have allowed it to provide local councils with $2.1 billion from the Roads to
Recovery program.
No return to Sri Lanka
MELBOURNE: The Australian Government has told the
High Court it has no plans to
send 153 asylum seekers back
to Sri Lanka.
The asylum seekers have
been detained on the high seas,
outside of Australia’s migration zone, since their boat
was intercepted on its way
from India on July 7.
Stephen Donaghue QC,
representing the Government,
told the High Court in Melbourne yesterday the Government would stick to its
undertaking that no one on the
boat would be sent to another
country without three days
written notice.
Justice Kenneth Hayne said
given the asylum seekers were
in custody it was important the
legal battle over their future
was finished as quickly as
possible.
Phantom puncher
SYDNEY: Police are looking
for a man who went on a random punching spree in Sydney’s CBD hurting eight
women. Three women were
assaulted in Wynyard Park
just before 2pm on Thursday
afternoon, police say. As police
were searching for the man he
assaulted another five women.
All women suffered bruising
but did not require further
medical attention.
Gore critical of Oz
CANBERRA: Former US
vice-president and climate
change action campaigner Al
Gore has criticised Australia’s
decision to scrap the carbon
tax. He said parliament’s decision was a disappointing step
for a country that continued to
experience worsening consequences of global warming.
“Australia is falling behind
other major industrialised nations in the growing global effort to reduce carbon
emissions,” Mr Gore said.
Remains identified
BRISBANE: Detectives have
formally identified a human
torso almost a year after the
burnt remains were found on a
Queensland roadside. The deceased man is 66-year-old
George Gerbic from the Sunshine Coast, police said yesterday. Police discovered the
headless remains, with arms
severed at the elbows and
nothing left below the rib cage
near Gympie, last September.
A 56-year-old woman faced
court yesterday charged with
Mr Gerbic’s murder.
Tennis fix charge
Penelope Seidler is the subject of Fiona Lowry’s Archibald Prize winning portrait
Picture: TOBY ZERNA
Stylish subject takes prize
By ELIZABETH FORTESCUE
SHE thought it made her look
“a bit severe” but friends told
her it was true to life.
Now Sydney architect Penelope Seidler is just pleased a
portrait of her has won artist
Fiona Lowry the prestigious
$75,000 Archibald Prize.
Ms Seidler, who described
the painting as “brilliant”, said
she first saw Lowry’s work in
2006 in the Primavera exhibi-
tion, which showcases up-andcoming young artists.
“I’ve followed her work ever
since, although I hadn’t met
her until last year when she approached me about doing the
portrait,” Ms Seidler said.
The beautiful, contemplative painting was set in the
grounds of the heritage-listed
modernist home Ms Seidler
shared with her late husband,
famed architect Harry Seidler.
Lowry said it was important
to her to take her portrait subjects to “a place that has memory and history attached to it”.
“At one point Penelope
looked back at the house
towering over us and reflected
that it had been some time
since she had seen it from this
angle,” Lowry said. “It was that
reflection that I wanted to explore with this portrait.”
Also announced yesterday
was the Sulman Prize, won by
artist Andrew Sullivan.
MELBOURNE: A man has
been charged with match fixing after allegedly rigging tennis matches in Australia and
overseas. The 27-year-old was
bailed by police yesterday
afternoon on two charges of
using corrupt conduct information for betting purposes,
and drug offences.
That’s blown it
MELBOURNE: A Melbourne
man who told police he’d only
had three beers has blown
nearly six times the legal 0.05
blood alcohol limit. Police say
they pulled over the 32-yearold Richmond man, who was
driving near Melbourne’s zoo,
about 8pm on Thursday.
DARWIN’S FIRST
Locally owned and operated
OPEN 6 DAYS A WEEK
Mon – Fri 8am–6pm > Sat 8am-3pm
P. 8985 3400
309 Bagot Rd COCONut GROvE
T
From 1.0HP Single Split Systems to
SA
D
N
10HP Commercial
BRA RICES
T
S
P
E
Airconditioning
IGG OUSE
B
Units
THE AREH
M26706
Come in and see our
daily & weekly specials!
IS NOW OPEN
Straight from the shipping container
... to the warehouse … to you
W
6 Delatour Street, Coconut Grove.
T: 8985 2814 E: [email protected]
NTNE01Z01MA - V1