What Australian papers say today, Friday, 16 Feb, 2001

AAP General News (Australia)
02-16-2001
What Australian papers say today, Friday, 16 Feb, 2001

SYDNEY, Feb 15 AAP - Sydney's The Daily Telegraph leads with an appeal for Australians
to register themselves as organ donors, and has posted a donor application form on its
website.

"Tragically, it is becoming more difficult for the ill to obtain transplants because
there is a dwindling supply of donor organs," the paper said.

"More than half the patients awaiting heart or liver transplants die because of a shortage
of organ donors. Two Australians on waiting lists die each week," the paper said.

The paper cites high profile cases such as Australia's richest man Kerry packer receiving
a kidney, and the country's best known heart transplant recipient Fiona Coote, as better
known examples of those having been given "the gift of life".

The paper also carries stories of donors such as Jessica Michalik, the girl who died
after Sydney's Big Day Out concert, who gave her corneas, and a 19-year-old woman who
saved the lives of five people by donating her organs.

Potential donors were scared off registering by fears doctors may not work to save
the life of a donor, or organs may be stored without permission by universities - both
concerns were without basis, the paper said.

"The international benchmark for organ donation for a country the size of Australia
is 1100, but only about 194 Australians register each year," the paper said.

"Nationally there are about 2,500 people waiting for organ transplants."

The Sydney Morning Herald's editorial today says the decision by Australia's university
vice chancellors to review students entry requirements and the assessment of examinations
and assignments is welcome but belated.

"It remains to be seen whether this will lead to corrective action or be merely a public
relations gesture," the paper said.

Newspaper reports and findings of the Australia Institute uncovered deep disenchantment
among university staff, and found anecdotal evidence students were being admitted and
passed in questionable circumstances in order to boost earnings from full-fee paying students.

"... the Senate inquiry into universities that is due to begin public hearings next
month is likely to be bogged down in political point scoring," the paper said.

"What is needed is a thorough, properly resourced, independent inquiry to provide the
next government with a comprehensive analysis of the state of the tertiary education sector
and options for its future."

The paper also considers the proposal for a new management board to supervise the Office
of the Director of Public Prosecutions.

The Australian Financial Review says Australia's economic sovereignty has been placed
squarely on the national agenda over the proposed takeover of Woodside by Shell.

In considering the benefit to the nation of the sale, Prime Minister John Howard has
said he had never supported "an approach that sees this country become a branch-office
economy", the paper said.

The paper considers different visions of what it means to become a branch-office economy,
and balances Australia need for foreign capital with the affects of a government hands-on
approach to managing resource development.

"There appears to be an obvious solution ... one that can avoid any populist move by
the government to reject the offer in response to the rising economic nationalism in the
electorate," the paper said.

"For 20 years, Woodside - a small company by comparison to the other five competing
resources giants in the partnership - has operated the project independently, free of
the individual commercial rivalries of the other partners.

"This is the model for the future. If Shell gains control of Woodside, the partners
should establish a new independent operator with the legal responsibility to operate the
project free of partners' rivalries, and presumably also in Australia's long-term economic
interest."

The Australian newspaper today in its editorial "recommends a vote for Labor" in Queensland's
election on Saturday.

But on the strict proviso that Mr Beattie pushes ahead with reform of his party, and
he answers the unanswered questions about his knowledge of electoral rorts, the paper
said.

The paper also examines the role juries should play in working out compensation for
damages, following the case of a Sydney man being awarded $2.5 million after he was strapped
17 years ago as a student.

The Adelaide Advertiser says human services minister Dean Brown again demonstrated
his political acumen with his conciliatory approach to the pay claim by nurses in the
public sector, Adelaide's Advertiser says in its editorial today.

Not only did he anticipate yesterday's mass meeting with his offer - standard operating
procedure - but his formal statement acknowledging the nurses' commitment and service
recognised their special place in the workforce, it says.

The new offer as presented by the government is impressive in claiming a pay rise at
one level from $40,892 to $48,494 over three years, the newspaper says.

"That said, the nurses' rejection of the Brown package at last night's meeting should,
we hope, now be seen as a negotiation between two parties who are in dialogue and seeking
common ground," it says.

The Herald Sun also says that in Victoria there is a widespread disregard for the ban
on use of mobile phones while driving.

Sadly, someone may have to die and a driver go to jail before authorities get serious
about tackling this modern menace, it says.

"Remember, if you talk and drive you're a bloody idiot," it says.

Drug companies are paying some doctors up to $6,000 for every patient they can recruit
to take part in drug trials, The Age says in its editorial today.

Sometimes, the patients are intellectually disabled and cannot give informed consent
to participation in a drug trial, the newspaper says.

The practice should be banned, but it should not be left to individual states to do so, it says.

"The problem has arisen because of a decision taken at a Federal level, and (Federal
Health Minister) Dr (Michael) Wooldridge should review the federal procedures for supervising
drug trials," it says.

The Age also says an Appeals Court ruling in the United States this week spells the
end of free music downloads from the Napster website.

Making available, or downloading copyright music for free is now prohibited and is,
in fact and in law, the same as stealing someone's work, it says.

"The copyright holders were right to sue Napster and the court has made the right decision,
even though, in the breach, it will be difficult to administer," it says.

AAP /pc/gfr

KEYWORD: EDITORIALS

2001 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.