An Australian news roundup

Vanstone caps refugee numbers: "Australia will freeze the number of refugees it accepts in the next financial year at 13,000. Immigration Minister Amanda Vanstone says 6,000 of the 13,000 places will be allocated to refugees referred by the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR), while the remainder will be allocated through the Government's special humanitarian program. Senator Vanstone says the Government is able to accept the refugees due to the tightening of policies on asylum seekers arriving by boat. Yesterday, Senator Vanstone announced the intake of skilled migrants will remain at just over 97,000 for the next financial year. The ACT Chamber of Commerce has criticised the decision. The chamber's chief executive Chris Peters says he wanted another 20,000 skilled migrants next financial year to help address the ACT's skill shortage. He says the decision is politically motivated, to avoid the perception that cheap overseas labor is coming into Australia. "Anyone who's ever been involved in bringing someone from overseas knows that that's a nonsense," he said. "It costs considerably more to recruit from overseas, to relocate here and once they're here, if the business is not paying competitive salaries, they'll very quickly lose them to a competitor.""








Boob jobs are 'in': "Teenage girls are using credit to pay for costly breast implants and other cosmetic surgery. For as little as $55 a week over five years, the teenagers - most fresh out of high school with full-time jobs - are paying for breast implants costing between $8000 and $10,000. Nose jobs are also popular, costing between $4000 and $7000. The "makeover mortgages" have made cosmetic surgery more accessible to young clients. Over the past three years the number of women aged under 20 undergoing cosmetic surgery has increased by 30 per cent, says the Gold Coast's self-styled queen of cosmetic surgery Pamela Noon. "The accessibility to finance has increased the younger market," Noon says. "You're talking thousands of dollars for these procedures and previously younger girls couldn't afford it." Teenager Niki Johnson says she was happy to take out a loan to get bigger breasts. "I've gone from a small B to a large C cup and I couldn't be happier. I feel a lot more confident," says the 19-year-old from East Brisbane. She was 18 when she had the procedure in June last year - only a month after having cosmetic surgery to remove a "hump" on her nose."






Gas field promises big benefits: "Exxon Mobil is preparing to accept a new gas production licence for the Kipper gas field in Bass Strait, off the Gippsland coast of south-east Victoria. State Energy Minister Theo Theophanous says the Kipper gas field will ensure Victorians continue to have one of the lowest priced gas supplies in the world. Rob Young from Exxon Mobil says his company will work with BHP and Santos Woodside to take up the production licence. He says the companies will form a joint venture to meet the Government's deadline of June 6. "We're a separate joint venture between ourselves, BHP Santos and Woodside ... looking to develop that part of the field and it has enough gas there to power a city of a million people for about 15 years, so it is significant in terms of its size and we think it can bring a lot of benefits to the people of Victoria," he said."






About time: "Australia's aviation sector will be forced to randomly test pilots and other safety-sensitive personnel for drug and alcohol use, the federal government says. Transport Minister Warren Truss today said the measure was prompted by findings the pilot of an aircraft which crashed on Queensland's Hamilton Island, killing all six people aboard in 2002, had used drugs and alcohol before the tragedy. Five per cent of workers in the industry would be tested annually, he said. Mr Truss said pilots, flight crew, cabin crew, ground refuellers, baggage handlers, security screeners, air traffic controllers and other personnel with airside access at airports would be subject to the mandatory testing. He acknowledged fears the testing was an invasion of privacy, but said it was crucial following worldwide research that drugs and alcohol were "not uncommon" within the aviation sector. "We expect drivers to be free of alcohol and drugs when they are on the road - surely it's reasonable to expect something similar of pilots," Mr Truss told reporters in Brisbane.






Crackdown on rogue judges in NSW: "Judges will soon be forced to undergo health checks to avoid any repeat of scandals that forced the retirement of the sleeping Ian Dodd or the drink-driving Jeff Shaw. New laws for handling complaints against judicial officers will also make it clear that the days of dealing with misbehaving judges "in house" are over. Heads of courts will be able to order health checks if they fear a judge or magistrate suffers from "incapacity" rather than having to wait for a complaint from the public. The body which handles complaints, the NSW Judicial Commission, will also be given the power to order medical or pyschological examinations. If the judicial officer refuses, the matter can treated as a complaint - and trigger a full investigation of their "fitness for office". The "cone of silence" that exists over the commission's activities will be lifted and complainants will be given updates on the progress of their gripes for the first time. The amendments to the Judicial Officers Act will also abolish the categorisation of complaints as minor or serious because it was insulting to people who had serious grievances. A draft bill is being prepared after cabinet recently approved recommendations which flowed from a review established by the Government last year.






Skin cancer cure?: "Early clinical trials of a new gel to treat skin cancer have returned promising results. The gel, developed by Brisbane-based company Peplin, can be rubbed on to the skin to treat certain types of skin cancer. Initial trials show just two applications of the PEP005 Topical gel on two consecutive days cleared up 71 per cent of basal cell carcinomas, or BCCs, the most common type of skin cancer. The trials on 60 people throughout Australia built on an early study by Peplin in 2002 using the common garden weed, petty spurge. "That was a very different study and that was just using the raw sap of petty spurge," said Michael Aldridge, Peplin's managing director and chief executive. "This is the same company and we have now identified the molecule responsible for that activity and we have put that into a formal development program, formulated a gel and developed a manufacturing technology. "We ran a phase one study in the US, two phase-two studies looking at sunspots, and this is our third phase-two study looking at basal cell carcinomas." Mr Aldridge said it was the first time the molecule from petty spurge had been used to treat BCCs, which are usually surgically removed. "We've seen some very, very impressive results," he said."

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