Hawke Splits Opponents

Sydney Morning Herald

Monday November 12, 2007

Jonathan King

* While the prime minister, Bob Hawke, pointed to strong support in the business and academic communities for a capital gains tax the rifts deepened within the Coalition over the issue. The Queensland Premier, Sir Joh Bjelke-Petersen, and the National Party Senate team from Queensland affirmed their intention of fighting any capital gains tax through the Senate. But the opposition leader, Andrew Peacock, and leader of the Australian Democrats, Don Chipp, made it clear they would not block money bills in the Senate.

* A violent electrical storm passed over Sydney causing damage and flash flooding. South-western and inner-city suburbs were hardest hit. Houses were struck by lightning and there were blackouts.

* The pride of the Australian cricket team could not look each other in the eye when they held a meeting at the WACA ground. They had lost 12 wickets for 198 in the devastating first Test match against the West Indies. The Australian Cricket Board committed itself to a culture of "new professionalism in Australian cricket".

* Australian wheat had found its way to drought-stricken regions of Ethiopia under the emergency aid program agreed to by the Hawke government. The first shipment had reached Asmara in Ethiopia's far north.

* A Montreal movie theatre usher, Mark Lazarek, 21, claimed a new world record for watching boring movies. He sat through 57 consecutive sessions of Bedtime for Bonzo, a 1952 film starring Ronald Reagan and a chimpanzee.

© 2007 Sydney Morning Herald

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