Crispin Hull

The inquest into the death of baby Brian Lankuts in ACT Coroners Court centred yesterday (wed16sept) around a document recording the results of a blood test.

The blood test had been taken early in an operation on Brian, who died aged five months on November 21, 1990, after surgery to correct a skull abnormality which threatened to compress his brain.

Coroner John Burns was told that if the document had been on the medical file at the time it went to an independent expert the expert might have come to a different conclusion about the appropriateness of anaesthetic treatment during the operation.
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Dr David David (subs correct surname same as given name) head of the Australian Cranio-Facial Unit in Adelaide was giving evidence at the inquest into Brian Lankuts, who died aged five months on November 21, 1990, after surgery to correct a skull abnormality which threatened to compress his brain.

His report was tendered by Steve Loomes, counsel assisting the coroner, John Burns.

The report concluded that the operation performed on Brian was inappropriate.

“”There is no evidence that urgent surgery was necessary outside of a major cranio-facial unit,” it said.
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This version is to run with littlemore breakout… the littlemore bit is cut out of this…. a version with the whole lot in one story was sent earlier,then a break-out on littlemore requested. keep the first version just in case you change your mind and want it in one piece after all….

By CRISPIN HULL=el,3bd bl A machine that tested blood at Royal Canberra Hospital (North) was not working at a critical time during a baby’s operation, a coroner’s inquest was told yesterday.

Brian Lankuts, aged five months, died on November 21, 1990, after surgery to correct a skull abnormality which threatened to compress his brain.
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The Australian Political Studies Association is to hold a one-day special session on “”Australia’s Republican Question” on October 2 at the Australian National University. Speakers include former Pime Minister Bob Hawke, Senator Chris Schacht and a dozen or so academics.

The conference is part of a growing debate about Australia’s Constitution, including a three-day conference from October 3 to 6 in Darwin sponsored by the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly.

Tony Hedley, of Hamib Pty Ltd has been elected president of the Building Owners and managers Association of the ACT at the annual meeting this week. John Cabot, of Capital Property Group, and Lindsay Roberts of Hooker Corporate ACT, were elected vice-presidents.
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A Canberra man says he has been bombarded with begging letters from two overseas aid agencies, which he says spend 65.5 cents in every dollar raised on fund-raising costs and administration.

However, the aid agencies say the letters are a very cost-effective way of raising money and the ratio of costs to total money raised is less than a quarter.

Gerard Sellars, of Griffith, said yesterday that he and his wife, Elizabeth, had been giving to overseas aid agencies for decades, but in recent years they got bombarded with “”begging letters”. He decided to take a tally.
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This time last year the Australian Football League was under attack for the unfairness of its finals series.

This year it has changed the system slightly. The result is a completely fair finals system. Let me explain.

Last year the AFL had just moved from having a final five to having a final six.

The new final-six system was branded as unfair. It was unfair (for reasons which don’t matter now) and needed modifications. As a result of the changes no-one should complain. This is what happens:
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Mao’s dictum that power comes from the barrel of a gun does not apply in a stable democracy, like Australia. Rather it comes from money, influence and knowledge.

Those three combined with peculiar force in the person of Hungarian migrant Emil Herbert Abeles one day in November, 1988. That day, the by then Sir Peter Abeles, went to Kirribilli House, the official Sydney residence of the Prime Minister. Here he witnessed a deal between his longtime friend and now Prime Minister, Bob Hawke, and the then Treasurer, Paul Keating. The other witness was the secretary of the ACTU, Bill Kelty.

The two witnesses gave a promise of secrecy, which they kept. The Prime Minister gave a promise that he would step down in favour of Keating before the 1990 election, which he did not keep.
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Ms. Browning was acquitted of four charges of being knowingly concerned with the fire-bombing or attempted fire-bombing of cars belonging to US or South African diplomats. She was found guilty of threatening the then US Ambassador, William Lane, in 1988.

It was made by Mandy King who made the much acclaimed Shadow Over East Timor. This one does not deserve the same acclaim.

Its conclusions arise out of juxtaposition and assertion rather than evidence.

At one stage Ms Browning says that the Australian Federal Police got a search warrant to search her house, and said plaintively: they came in whether you liked it or not. Well, I would have thought that was the very idea of a search warrant.
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Australians should reject the cow-cocky, one-paddock-at-a-time mentality when talking about a republic, the Australian author Thomas Keneally said yesterday.

He rebuffed critics of the Australian Republic Movement who said that the idea of a republic was only fit for discussion in good times. Those critics thought that to discuss a republic was “”a wilful slight to the economically decimated.”

People in the republican movement were as aware as any of other issues: unemployment, the environment, Aboriginal sovereignty and so on.

He rejected the logic of those who said the economy must come first and republicanism be put aside.
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Spartacus was perhaps first to put human rights on “”the agenda”. He did it in Roman times. Since then it has dropped off and come back on without especial rhyme or reason. Joan of Arc, Lord Shaftsbury, Abraham Lincoln have tried to put human rights “”on the agenda” at different times and in different places.

On-again off-again has been the case in Australia. The leaders of the Rum Rebellion, Lalor, Caroline Chisholm are cases in point. In the meantime, of course, other have been trying to keep human rights off the agenda: Julius Caesar, the Revered Samuel Marsden and Vladimir Lenin spring to mind.

The point is that human rights cannot be dismissed as the fruits of the idleness of the chattering classes or the looney left. Nor can the calls for a Bill of Rights.
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