What the nations newspapers say today, Thu, Dec 17, 1998

AAP General News (Australia)
12-17-1998
What the nations newspapers say today, Thu, Dec 17, 1998

SYDNEY, Dec 17 AAP - Changes announced yesterday to the Job Network were an acknowledgement
by the federal government that its grand and radical plan to replace the Commonwealth
Employment Service was never inherently perfect, The Australian says today.

The changed scheme, involving upfront retainers and increased payments, will not be enough
to save some agencies but it will make their closure marginally less painful by providing an
exit package of $15,000, The Australian says.

It says the areas at greatest risk are those with low employment, especially rural and
regional Australia.

"The upfront retainer will help, at least in the short term, but in the months before the
first contract period expires in February, 2000, the government must further consider how the
Job Network can better serve the unemployed in areas where jobs, and business for agencies,
are scarce," the paper says.

The Adelaide Advertiser says it was among the first to observe the federal governments
reforms to employment agencies werent working.

"There then ensued the customary huff and puff and obfuscation as the government tried to
pretend black was white," the paper says.

Yesterday, there had effectively been an admission of failure with the announcement of a
$105 million rescue package from Employment Services Minister Tony Abbott.

"But rather than applaud this belated recognition of a monumental political and
bureaucratic stupidity we feel impelled to say: What took so long?" said The Advertiser.

Sydneys Daily Telegraph says Deputy Prime Minister Tim Fischer has set the example for the
use of government credit cards in getting by without one.

"Representing the government overseas, Mr Fischer pays his way and submits an invoice for
reimbursement if the funds were outlaid on behalf of the government or trade department," The
Telegraph editorial said.

"No arguments or accusations. The bill is either paid or not paid, if items are not deemed
official business.

"It is a practice that could well be adopted by state governments and senior public
servants."

The Sydney Morning Herald says the final report of Peter McClellan, QC, into the July
Sydney water crisis raises as many questions as it answers.

The paper says Mr McClellan confirms his earlier assessment that decisions to introduce
boil-water alerts were appropriate, while at the same time confirming the unreliability of
tests for cryptosporodium and giardia.

"But if the science is uncertain, and there are no mandatory health related standards,
how is NSW Health to judge whether it should issue an alert, and what kind, the next time
alarming test results turn up?" asks the SMH.

"Guidelines are proposed, to ensure future alerts are not issued prematurely. It must also
be hoped, meanwhile, that the "developing science" in this area will also become more
exact."

Brisbanes Courier-Mail says Bill Clinton and his Secretary of State Madeleine Albright
might be the only people who believe the Middle East peace process is still on track.

"While the US Presidents visit to Israel and Palestinian Gaza did achieve something in
keeping a semblance of the Wye peace agreement alive, it did not bring it back on track," the
Courier-Mail says.

"Tomorrows deadline for further troop withdrawals on the West Bank will pass without
Israeli compliance.

"Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Chairman Yasser Arafat left
their meeting with Mr Clinton without posing for what should have been an obligatory photo
opportunity."

The Melbourne Age says Bill Clinton has been an extraordinary contradiction as US
president.

The Age says it is galling to the world that a man who should be remembered as a peacemaker
in Ireland and the Middle East is now as likely to be remembered for his sexual entanglements,
petty deceits, prurient opponents and humiliating impeachment.

"Bill Clinton has managed to conduct himself with extraordinary aplomb on the world stage,
while allowing his weaknesses of character to be exploited by domestic political enemies at
every turn," the paper says.

"Those enemies are now poised to make Mr Clinton only the second president in US history to
be impeached by the House of Representatives and tried by the Senate."

The Australian Financial Review, in addressing what it says a long and uncertain process of
implementation of the Kyoto deal to reduce greenhouse global emissions, suggests the Kyoto
commitments could be seen as a "right to emit" that could be traded between nations.

It says the idea represents the conceptual equivalent of shifting some of one countrys
emissions into another.

AFR says the idea has support in ABARE findings that not only would emissions trading
reduce the aggregate cost of countries meeting their Kyoto commitments, but that the net
reduction in emissions is greater because the exodus of greenhouse gas-sensitive industries to
developing countries not bound by the deal is lessened.

It concludes that a tradeable emissions scheme is still a long way from fruition, but says
the ABARE research shows that if we are to have mandated greenhouse gas reductions, this is
the way to go.

The Melbourne Herald Sun, supporting a government move to improve learner-driver training,
says apart from sex education, the most important daily life skill a young person can learn is
how to handle a motor car.

Statistics showed the death rate among young drivers halved after they had between six and
eight months of driving experience, the paper says.

AAP was

KEYWORD: EDITORIALS

1998 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.