Qld: Courier Mail editorial

AAP General News (Australia)
12-02-1999
Qld: Courier Mail editorial

Reissuing, correcting dateline



SYDNEY, Dec 2 AAP - Today's Melbourne Herald-Sun says there is outrage at media magnate
Kerry Packer's plan to establish a database with personal and financial details of millions
of Australians.

The database is infinitely more intrusive than the scheme by the former government
under Bob Hawke to establish the Australia Card, the paper says.

It says the federal government must ensure that private citizens can refuse to have
their personal information, given in good faith to government authorities and companies
with which they deal, collated and sold off.

The Australian Financial Review says there has been strong reactions in the past against
such proposals as the Australia card.

The revelation of the Packer partnership with US company Acxiom has reopened the same
can of worms and raised numerous legislative issues, it says.

"The arrival of Acxiom underlines the need to reconcile the undoubted business potential
of sophisticated data collection with what the community considers to be an acceptable
degree of personal privacy," AFR says.

The Melbourne Age says Mr Packer's move to establish a national database on Australians'
personal details and spending habits must be tempered by the march of technology.

In an information age, it is unlikely that our actions and transactions can be kept
private, the Age says.

But it says we can ensure our federal government has legislation governing governing
how information provided to data bases is used.

When the government tables privacy legislation in February, the proposed laws must
also enshrine the right of every citizen to know what information these private data bases
contain about them, The age says.

Brisbane's Courier-Mail says Queensland Premier Peter Beattie's seeming desire to lock
horns with federal politicians is a leaf straight out of the "Canberra bashing" chapter
of the traditional Queensland political manual.

The paper's editorial says Canberra bashing was perfected by Sir Joh Bjelke-Petersen
- a politician for whom Mr Beattie has an unusual and seemingly genuine admiration.

"Sir Joh would invariably heighten the tension between George Street and Canberra in
the lead-up to an election - regardless of which political party held power nationally.

Could Mr Beattie be doing the same thing?" The Courier-Mail said.

The Sydney Morning Herald says the state government's plans to shut down the ferry
services for six hours and underground train services for 90 minutes on New Year's Eve
are impractical.

"... how can New Year's Eve be considered a public transport event if insufficient
services are going to be provided," it says.

"A little rethinking of arrangements will be necessary if the state government is to
honour its assurances of minimal inconvenience."

The Daily Telegraph says the Batavia, a replica of a Dutch ship that sank off the West
Australian coast in the 17th century, is a symbol of Australia's links to the Dutch mariners
and explorers of the past.

"The Netherlands ... is Australia's fourth largest trading and investment partner behind
the US, the UK and Japan.

"That bond between our nations is best represented, however, by the combined efforts
of the Australia-Netherlands Chamber of Commerce and the National Maritime Museum which
have brought Batavia to Sydney, for the enjoyment and enlightenment of all."

The editorial in today's Australian says the World Trade Organisation meeting in Seattle
"is a study in bizarre contrast".

"On the street, violent battles pitted police against demonstrators, some of whom believe
the organisation is the epitome of evil and the cause of death in third world countries,"

it says.

"WTO administrators are not blind to the issues raised by the activists.

"It is the backdrop against which today's children and future generations will develop
their view of the world. We must agree."

AAP pwa/was

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