A two-car accident has closed Adelaide’s Southern Expressway during the morning peak.
Police say the crash was near the Marion Road exit just before 7:00am.
The Expressway had been cleared before 8:30am to let traffic flow again.
Ex-justice CEO sues for contract breach
May 6, 2010 By Leave a Comment
A former senior bureaucrat who is suing for breach of contract felt abandoned by the South Australian Government after controversy erupted about her role, the Supreme Civil Court in Adelaide has been told.
Kate Lennon stood down as chief executive officer of the Justice Department in 2004 and is now suing the SA Government.
She admitted transferring $6 million of departmental money into the Crown Solicitor’s trust account, but maintains senior people endorsed the practice and then-attorney-general Michael Atkinson knew about it.
Her lawyer told the trial that, when the issue was made public, no government ministers defended Ms Lennon or said publicly that she had been acting on government endorsement.
Lennon is suing for the lost income she would have received from her five-year contract and compensation for damage to her reputation.
She will take the stand and the defence is expected to call ministers, including Kevin Foley.
Police recruit facing assault charge
May 6, 2010 By Leave a Comment
A police recruit has been arrested and charged with assault.
The man, 38, is due to face Elizabeth Magistrates Court.
Tougher laws urged for company administrators
April 10, 2010 By Leave a Comment
A Senate inquiry has been told it should be made illegal for administrators to also act as liquidators of a company because they have a vested interest in failures.
Lawyer Steve McNamara told the hearing in Adelaide that administrators can make more money from liquidations which means there is little incentive for them to save companies from collapse.
He told the Senate Economics Committee legislative change is needed so different companies are forced to handle the processes.
“There is a huge conflict that the administrator has because an administration generally they’ll earn between five at the low end up to maybe $30-40,000 but if they sit there and look at the company and see what sort of asset backing it has it is their utmost incentive to put that company into liquidation,” he said.
Pair sought over Findon armed robbery
April 10, 2010 By Leave a Comment
Adelaide police are looking for two men and weapons they used for a break-in and car theft at Findon.
Police say three men with a firearm and a hammer confronted a man at his house in Elizabeth Street at about 4:20am and forced him to hand over car keys.
The car was chased by police at Flinders Park and later found dumped at Ovingham.
A man, 24, from Rosewater was arrested and is alleged to have breached bail.
Police hope to track down the other two offenders and are keen for any help from the public.
Heyward son lodges murder appeal papers
April 10, 2010 By Leave a Comment
Matthew Heyward has lodged an appeal against his murder conviction after the trial into the killing of his mother Glenys in 2007.
Heyward, 22, and farm worker Jeremy Minter were found guilty of murder for allegedly helping Heyward’s father, Neil, track down and kill his Glenys Heyward, in a fight over property.
The appeal application has been lodged with the Court of Criminal Appeal and is not likely to be listed for a hearing until next month.
Mine jobs hope for Hiramasa workers
April 10, 2010 By Leave a Comment
The mining sector is shaping as an alternative employment source for 22 employees of Australian Hiramasa, who will lose their jobs when the factory closes at the end of May.
Moves by Cleanseas to centralise its operations to Port Lincoln have seen the Whyalla kingfish processor lose its contract after 10 years.
Whyalla Mayor Jim Pollock says the city has gone through job losses in the past, citing the 1,400 jobs lost at the former BHP shipbuilding operation.
“We’re a very strong community, we’re a very strong city and we bind together and help each other and that’s what we’ll be doing in this case here to try and assist these 22 people and their families … to get back on their feet,” he said.
He says the expanding mining sector around Whyalla could be a source of employment.
“These people will be able to pick up jobs with those sort of companies that are very close to our doorstep,” he said.
“I don’t want to lose them out of Whyalla and I don’t think they’d want to move themselves, just to relocate and to find another job elsewhere.”
Ex-Howard minister gets tertiary appointment
April 10, 2010 By Leave a Comment
Adelaide University has appointed former Howard government minister Robert Hill as its new chancellor.
The former South Australian senator replaces John von Doussa QC.
He will retire in July after six years in the role.
Mr Hill says Adelaide University is financially sound but needs more infrastructure to cope with rising educational demand.
He says one third of students at the university are from overseas, but the competition is getting tougher to attract them.
“You won’t get the same flood that’s come in recent years, you’ll have to go out and compete for students whereas there hasn’t been so much need for competition in the past,” he said.
“I don’t think it’s been an over-reliance, it’s happened very quickly but I think it’s been a good thing overall.”
Desperate Crows recall Knights early
April 10, 2010 By Leave a Comment
Adelaide has rushed the pivotal Chris Knights back into its side to play Melbourne on Sunday despite concerns about underdone players already in the team.
Knights suffered a pre-season stress fracture in his left foot and played one game in the SANFL before his recall, joining the likes of Brett Burton, Jason Porplyzia, Bernie Vince and Scott Thompson as players coming off interrupted preparations for 2010.
Senior coach Neil Craig said there was no point second-guessing the decision to recall Knights as the Crows try to gather some kind of momentum after abject defeats in their opening two rounds.
Among all the players on the Crows’ list, Knights is among the most important when at his best, offering a long-kicking forward option while tiring opposition defences with his hard tackling and boundless running.
“I watched him play a half last week for Woodville West Torrens and his form was pretty sound,” said Craig.
“He’s fit, he’s healthy, he’s fresh, he hasn’t played a lot of footy obviously, but that’s another one of those category players we’ve got.
“But in the end if we go with them we’ll go with it aggressively and get judged on performance.”
Craig accepted he should be held responsible if the players he has selected do not show themselves to be ready for battle – Burton and Porplyzia looked particularly ginger against Sydney in round two.
“I’ve always got a choice, I can elevate a rookie to play (instead),” he said.
“I’ve got choices and I make those choices and if they don’t work out the coach is always responsible.”
Another problem area for the Crows has emerged via the news that key forward Kurt Tippett is going to have to manage knee tendonitis this year, limiting his training load.
“Kurt’s got some knee soreness, some tendonitis but there are going to quite a few guys in the AFL with that,” Craig said.
“He trained fully today and the way we’ve tried to manage him is we’re happy for him to have a bit more recovery early in the week, but he needs to be able to do a full session on Wednesday or Thursday and he does very little in our last session.
“Then we back him in to be able to perform on that sort of program.”
Tippett’s goal-kicking has been notably off in the first two rounds, kicking 1.5 in two games while battling to have his expected impact, but Craig denied this was knee-related.
“No. I think that’d be too easy a way out,” he said.
“I think you saw uncharacteristically Jason Porplyzia last week, I would’ve nearly put my house on Jason kicking that goal, so we’ve got to keep strong with all that, because that’s often what happens, and we’ll just work through it.”
The Crows have elevated the former Brisbane Lions midfielder Chris Schmidt from their rookie list and named him in the 25-man squad.
They have also called in young tall Shaun McKernan to replace the hamstrung James Sellar, pointedly ignoring the more senior ruckman Jon Griffin, who was dropped after a poor display against Fremantle.
Ballinger remains a Sixer
April 10, 2010 By Leave a Comment
Adelaide skipper Adam Ballinger has signed on with the 36ers for another two years.
The club has also retained the services of 24-year-old guard Brad Hill, who has agreed to a one-year term.
The 36ers and new coach Marty Clarke still have five out of 10 spots to fill in the player roster.
Yesterday they announced Nathan Herbert would also return to the 36ers next season.
Baby hurt as car hits house
April 10, 2010 By Leave a Comment
A baby has been injured as a car crashed into a house at Morphett Vale in Adelaide’s southern suburbs.
Police say four children and a woman were inside when a teenager drove into the house in Emerald Road just after 9:00am ACST.
The one-year-old boy suffered minor injuries and was taken to hospital.
A girl aged two was taken to hospital as a precaution.
A woman and two girls, aged seven and five, were unhurt.
Police are interviewing the P-plate driver, 17, and a passenger about the accident.
Neighbours say they heard someone doing burn-outs in the street before the crash.
Airport drama in Adelaide rain
April 10, 2010 By Leave a Comment
There has been an alert at Adelaide Airport as a Singapore Airlines flight was forced to make a second landing attempt on a wet runway.
Airport management initially cited safety concerns because another plane was still leaving the main runway, but later said there was not a second aircraft involved.
An airline official said the pilot chose to go around because heavy rain in Adelaide had reduced visibility.
There were 265 people on board.
They finally got into the terminal about 8:30am ACST
Boost for coroner’s domestic violence probes
April 10, 2010 By Leave a Comment
Extra support has been promised for the coroner to probe deaths stemming from domestic violence in South Australia.
The SA Government has rejected calls for a wide-ranging review of domestic violence services but says it is watching developments in other states.
Status of Women Minister Gail Gago says more efforts will be made to help identify gaps in the current system.
“They are able to then look at services, service gaps that might be occurring and provide information to assist the coroner in his recommendations,” he said.
An officer to assist the coroner is to be appointed by the end of the year.
Armed pair attack man in home
April 10, 2010 By Leave a Comment
Two men in balaclavas have attacked a man, 44, in his house at Salisbury East.
Adelaide police say the armed men assaulted the resident in his Austral Street home at 8:00pm on Thursday.
The offenders ran off.
Police say they were Caucasian, about 180 centimetres tall and of medium build.
Thunderstorms flood outback SA
April 10, 2010 By Leave a Comment
Thunderstorms have lashed Roxby Downs in outback South Australia, flooding roads and several properties in the town.
The first storm hit about 7:30pm on Thursday and another front swept through early Friday.
More than 85 millimetres of rain fell at the airport.
Service station worker Terry Luckett says it has not rained so hard in at least 20 years.
“Quite used to Queensland weather and it sort of resembled that for probably two or three hours there. It just constantly was coming down, quite heavy,” he said.
“On and off I’ve been here since 1990, so [in] 20 years this is the first time we’ve seen it like this.”
Vicky Visser owns a cafe in Richardson Place which has been flooded.
“I pulled up at the shop and literally had to wade through knee-deep to get into the shop,” she said.
“We have had all night in clean-up so the coffee machine is on and the food is getting hot and the sandwiches are getting made so we’re going to be, hopefully, all systems go, albeit a little rearranged.”
More than 85 millimetres has also been recorded at nearby Andamooka.
Dams are overflowing and houses have been flooded.
Supermarket owner Cassandra Lion says the water rushed down the main street.
“One gentleman we found this morning on the roof of his four-wheel-drive that’d been spun around 180 degrees by a surge of water and he was trapped there,” she said.
“At one stage the water was actually halfway up his front windscreen.
“There are a couple of houses across the creek from where I am at the moment that were under water.”
Another Andamooka resident Kyle Christensen says it is the best rain he can remember since 1975.
“We’ve had so many years of drought and that that we’ve been probably looking for this rain and then all of a sudden instead of it raining a normal rain it just buckets down,” he said.
Senior forecaster Peter Webb says the rain is continuing.
“We still currently have a severe thunderstorm warning for an area covering Marla from Coober Pedy down to just north of Port Augusta and up to Moomba, so that wedge of area up in the north-east pastoral, including the northern parts of the Flinders, can expect further thunderstorms with heavy falls during the morning,” he said.
More than 60 millimetres fell at Leigh Creek in the 24 hours to 9:00am and 33 millimetres fell at Woomera.
Crop hopes
In other areas of the state, farmers are considering an early start to seeding because of this week’s rain.
Many are already reporting good soil moisture.
Rural consultant Barry Mudge says farmers need to weigh up how they will manage to avoid frost damage during the winter months and any early heat in spring.
He says some Mallee farmers have already planted feed crops but farmers usually wait on good rains around Anzac Day.
“My feeling from talking to a lot of farmers is they’re saying, ‘yeah, perhaps we can come maybe a week earlier than we’re used to,’ but a lot of people are saying, ‘look, we need to get through to at least April 20,’ and even then it’s only going to be done as a bit of a risk management tool,” he said.
School starts too early for dozy teens
April 10, 2010 By Leave a Comment
Researchers at the University of South Australia say school hours should be changed to accommodate the sleep needs of teenagers.
A study published in the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health today looks at the sleep patterns of young people and its links to health problems such as obesity.
Professor Tim Olds says many teenagers are not getting enough sleep through the school week and would be better off if school started later in the day.
“It certainly seems that it’s not so much the absolute amount of sleep that teenagers are getting but the fact that they have these sort of cyclical sleep deficits,” he said.
“So they are underslept on school days and they accumulate a big sleep deficit through the week, then they get rid of that sleep deficit Friday and Saturday, then the whole thing begins again on Sunday.
“Adolescents who tend to go to bed a bit later don’t get enough sleep in the school days, so by putting back the school starting time to 10:00am or 11:00am that may remedy that.”
Payout for protesters locked in shipping container
The South Australian Government has been ordered to pay $724,000 to 10 people involved in a protest at the Beverley uranium mine a decade ago.
The Supreme Court has found the nine uranium protesters and a cameraman were assaulted and all but one falsely imprisoned in a shipping container.
The Government fought the case on behalf of the police officers who arrested the group in the outback.
Eight protesters, the TV cameraman and a girl, 11, sued the Government for assault and false imprisonment over their treatment by police during the protest in May 2000.
Supreme Court Justice Timothy Anderson found police used unnecessary force against all 10, using batons and capsicum spray and locking the nine adults in the container.
He awarded $724,000 but noted it was less than the plaintiffs had sought.
‘Degrading’
Justice Anderson said using the oppressive, degrading and dirty shipping container was a breach of human rights.
He also condemned SA Treasurer Kevin Foley and Police Minister Michael Wright for making antagonistic and provocative comments about the case and the Government for its failure to settle the matter, despite a report by the Police Complaints Authority confirming the use of unnecessary force.
Mr Foley was quoted as calling the group a “bunch of feral protesters”.
The court heard the Government rejected an offer to settle for $600,000 in the weeks before the trial.
Cameraman Jamie Holland says he was held in the container without food, water or a toilet for three hours.
“Inhumane. It shouldn’t happen in Australia. It shouldn’t happen anywhere,” he said.
One of the protesters Lucinda White says Mr Foley was wrong to have made a judgment based on appearance and she is calling for an apology.
“There are real issues here and uranium mining is a really big issue in South Australia,” she said.
“Regardless of how people look they have a right to protest and a right to be safe, not bashed, beaten and falsely imprisoned by the police,” she said.