Parents of injured Brit appeal

PARENTS of Daniel Moore appeared at a press conference in Australia today and pleaded for a taxi driver to come forward.

Daniel, 21, from Marske, still remains in a critical condition in hospital, four days after he was found lying in the road at an intersection in a suburb of Sydney.

At a press conference today, his parents, along with New South Wales Police, appealed for a taxi driver, who may have been the last person to see Daniel before he was injured, to contact police.

Dad Robin Moore said: “Daniel has been living and working in Australia for two years now and he has loved every moment of it.

“We are pleading for the taxi driver to come forward. He may well be the only person who can help us figure out what happened to Daniel.”

Daniel was found by police patrolling Pittwater Road and Collingwood Street, in Manly, a seaside resort close to Sydney, at 3.50am on Sunday.

Daniel's mother Valerie Rutters said her son was fulfilling a life-long dream when he left home to travel around Australia nearly two years ago.

"From being a child he used to say `When I'm 16 will you buy me a ticket to Australia'," she said, visibly emotional.

Mr Moore said Sydney was to be his son's new home after he was recently granted sponsorship to live in Australia.

Detective Inspector Luke Arthurs, crime manager at Manly Local Area Command, said police hadn't ruled anything out and could be dealing with either an assault or an accident.

He confirmed Daniel's friend did not pay the taxi fare but would not speculate further.

"The friend got out of the taxi, but the friend was unsure if Daniel got out at the same time," Det Ins Luke Arthurs said.

"The mate did not pay the fare."

Det Insp Arthurs called on the taxi driver to come forward.

"We just need to speak to the taxi driver and see what, if anything, he knows about this."

He urged anybody who may have seen anything in the area around Pittwater Road and Collingwood Road at around 3.50am (AEST) on Sunday morning to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.

Daniel's parents will remain in Sydney "as long as it takes" until their son has recovered.

Bubblewrap Bandit nabbed, say police

Police allege the 23-year-old concealed his face with the packing material before using a knife to rob a Main Beach convenience store on June 26.

Officers tracked the alleged bandit to a Main Beach home, where he was arrested on Wednesday.

He's been charged with armed robbery and will face the Southport Magistrates Court on Thursday.

Officers tracked the alleged bandit to a Main Beach home, where he was arrested yesterday.

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He's been charged with armed robbery and will face the Southport Magistrates Court today.

Meanwhile, a gang has broken into a Gold Coast surf club, smashing up fridges and stealing alcohol and cash before fleeing.

Police say about five men wearing balaclavas broke into the Miami Life Saving Club about 10pm last night.

Police are looking for a small white sedan seen in the area at the time.

Charles Teo

Charles "Charlie" Teo AM,  born 24 December 1957 is a high profile Australian neurosurgeon.

Teo was born to Chinese Singaporean parents who immigrated to Australia. He went to high school at The Scots College and graduated with Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery from the University of New South Wales.

He is married to Genevieve Teo (née Agnew); the couple have four daughters.

Neurosurgery

Teo trained in Sydney, but worked for a decade in the United States, where he still teaches. His sub-speciality is paediatric neurosurgery. He is the director of the Centre for Minimally Invasive Neurosurgery at Prince of Wales Hospital. and the founder of Cure For Life Foundation.

Teo has received much media attention as something of a miracle worker, but some neurosurgeons have criticised him as being too radical, offering "false hope" to patients who are believed to have an incurable brain cancer or a brain tumour that is dangerously located. Teo has resigned from the Neurosurgical Society of Australasia and argues that delaying the death of patients with an incurable brain cancer is worthwhile if it is their wish and that patients who seek his surgery are determined to live with a quality of life, despite being informed the surgery itself carries a sometimes considerable risk.

A story about Teo and one of his patients, the young pianist Aaron McMillan, is detailed in the book Life in his Hands by Susan Wyndham. A patient of Charlie Teo's, Sally White, has written of her experiences in Three Quotes From A Plumber: How a Second Opinion Changed the Life of a Woman with a Brain Tumour Teo has also been featured in several TV programs including ABC's Q&A, Good Medicine, Sixty Minutes, Last Chance Surgery, Australian Story and Enough Rope with Andrew Denton.

Teo gave the 50th Anniversary Errol Solomon Meyers Memorial Lecture at the University of Queensland in August 2007. In July 2009, Teo was a keynote speaker at the Australian Medical Students' Association National Convention, held in Brisbane, Australia.

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Manslaughter surgeon attacked in prison

Dr Teo said he had met fellow brain surgeon Suresh Nair in 2000, when the latter was a registrar at Prince of Wales Hospital.

Although describing Nair as "a bit odd" and "awkward socially", Dr Teo said the pair had spent up to 16 hours a day working together and become close.

"I spent so many hours with him, I got to know the real Suresh in that year... I had nothing but good things to say about him," Dr Teo told the District Court.

"(He is) a fine person, a fine character with a good heart ... (He had) a peaceful sort of soul who cared very much for his patients and I thought he was an excellent neurosurgeon."

Dr Teo said he knew nothing of Nair's cocaine addiction and was shocked when Nair was initially charged with the manslaughter of one escort Victoria McIntyre in February 2009, and the murder of call girl Brazilian national Suellen Domingues Zaupa nine months later.

He has ultimately pleaded guilty to the manslaughter of Ms Zaupa, and one count of drug supply relating to Ms McIntyre's death.

Nair, 42, also pleaded guilty to a charge of supplying a prohibited drug while on bail last January.

A preliminary hearing of the case revealed Nair's penchant for having "model type" escorts visit his apartment to consume large amounts of cocaine, sometimes in "rock" form he inserted into their bodies.

There are many surgeons who, because of ego, would rather let their patients die than refer them to someone else," Dr Teo said.

"But he would refer patients to me regularly that he thought I could help with."

Dr Teo said that he had initially found Nair to have an "odd personality" when they started working together at Prince of Wales in 2001.

But over the course of many hours spent together the two had formed a very close bond, he said.

"I don't believe that Suresh would ever operate on a patient under the influence of drugs.

"His patient care was of the highest level.

"Patients speak very highly of him."

Dr Teo said that his family and colleagues had not wanted him to "stick his neck out" by supporting Nair but that he had wanted to support his former colleague and friend.

Tsunami woes reach flood-hit beef jobs

JBS Australia's Beef City Meat Plant at Toowoomba will close from Friday, to July 15.

A spokesman said it was the first time in the plant's history that it had shut down due to poor trading conditions.

Factors in the decision were the high Australian dollar, increasing labour costs and government fees making Australian beef uncompetitive in international markets.

"At the same time we are faced with these challenges here in Australia, cheaper US beef is rapidly taking the place of Australian beef on shelves across the northern Asian markets," the spokesman said.

Opposition agriculture spokesman Andrew Cripps said it was a tough time for the entire beef sector.

Live exporters have been affected by the federal government's decision to suspend trade with some Indonesian facilities.

Mr Cripps said it was a "Labor-created crisis".

While I remain confident operations will start again soon at JBS, we will watch the situation closely."

JBS's head office did not return calls yesterday.

The vast Beef City abattoir, which processes 1100 cattle a day, employs 940 people and is Toowoomba's biggest job provider. JBS operates 10 abattoirs in Australia and five cattle feedlots.

Those reporting for duty at Beef City yesterday were told that operations would cease in preparation for the two-week shutdown because of the slump in demand from Japan.

Sixty per cent of the plant's output is sent to Japan, Beef City manager Justin McCormick said. The company was seeking alternative customers, domestically and abroad, and could bring forward the start-up if any were found for the high-quality output from Toowoomba.

Workers would be able to take accrued annual leave while production was suspended, Mr McCormick told The Australian. A limited number of positions could be opened up at JBS's Dinmore plant in Brisbane's west for those who had no time owing.

Slaughtermen Scott Mengel and Robert Beilefeld said they were shocked by the development. Both have pregnant wives at home, due to give birth soon.

"I've heard the shut-down could extend to three or four weeks. It's devastating. I don't know what I'll do. I have a mortgage to pay. I'll have to find work somewhere else until the abattoir reopens," Mr Beilefeld said.

Clover Moore's council policies are sending businesses away

On Monday night, Sydney City councillors controversially voted to use the term "invasion" in the council's Aboriginal policy.

Ms Moore said on Thursday that the word accurately described the impact of colonisation on indigenous communities.

"They (the Aboriginal community) told us very strongly that the word described the impact on the community," she told reporters in Sydney.

Owner of CBD lingerie store Arianne, Douglas Reedy, pays thousands of dollars in rent but cannot vote for the council as a business.

He said Ms Moore's council was "killing" Sydney with controversial policies such as the bike lanes.

"The little people are going broke everywhere over the (CBD). She's disrupting traffic and trying to get people out of the city," Mr Reedy said.

He said this year was a "shocker" for revenue - the worst in 25 years: "She's just driving money out. All the developers have left."

Urban Taskforce CEO Aaron Gadiel blasted the council for driving business to despair with red tape, preventing development, and failing to represent all the community.

"People want to invest in other places to save themselves the difficulty in dealing with the City of Sydney."

Parramatta Economic Development Forum CEO Christopher Brown said business realised the encumbrance of working in the CBD.

"Parramatta is a willing player. It's not only laying out the welcome mat, it's knocking on people's doors," Mr Brown said. "Gone are the days if you didn't have your office in Martin Place it wasn't a real office."

Meriton managing director Harry Triguboff said Sydney's councils had a reputation for stalling projects.

Luring Sydney families with a $7000 grant

Forbes’ population could be set to swell under the state government’s new relocation scheme.

As of tomorrow, the government’s Regional Relocation Grants scheme will provide payments to Sydney families who move to regional NSW.

Families will receive $7000 in a one-off grant if they leave Sydney, Newcastle or Wollongong for regional NSW on the condition they don’t spend more than $600,000 on a home.

By moving to places like Glen Innes, Inverell, Armidale, Guyra, Uralla and Tenterfield families can escape the high cost of living and congestion of life in the big smoke,” Mr Stoner said.

“The NSW Government is determined to kick-start regional NSW by supporting growth, creating jobs and improving infrastructure.”

Northern Tablelands MP Richard Torbay said any initiative to relocate people from Sydney to regional areas had his support and the financial incentive being offered by the government was a positive first step.

“As the scheme rolls out it should be carefully monitored and reviewed to see what the take up is, where people are choosing to move to and whether further incentives might assist in making them consider areas where population growth is required,” he said.

“What it shows is that families with young children are willing to move to rural areas if the incentives are sufficiently compelling.”

Mr Torbay said the government should also reconsider zone taxation measures supported by the NSW Farmers Association and the Chartered Accountants Association.

“This would see tax cuts for businesses that relocate to regional areas,” he said.

However, Mr Torbay said the scheme should be more specific about the location.

“While I applaud the initiative to counterbalance the overdevelopment of Sydney, I would also like to see some positive discrimination towards areas in this state that need extra population,” Mr Torbay said.

“Many parts of the coast, the Hunter and Illawarra where these incentive grants also apply are already overpopulated. Attracting more people would place too much stress on local infrastructure.

Man jailed for killing gay housemate

Aaron James Johnstone, 29, said he lost control after his drunk housemate Phillip Higgins, 46, propositioned him in September 2006.

He told police he kicked and punched Mr Higgins before dropping the platypus statue on him. He also struck him with a chair.

Johnstone was today sentenced to 18 years' jail with a minimum term of 14 years at the Victorian Supreme Court.

Justice Robert Osborn described the injuries suffered by Mr Higgins, which included six broken ribs and a battered face, as horrific.

He said Johnstone moved into the rented flat of Mr Higgins and was his friend for some years.

"Your attack was a savage betrayal of his trust and generosity," Justice Osborn said.

He said that even if Mr Higgins made advances towards his friend, his reaction was outside of what an ordinary person would do.

"I do not accept that even if Mr Higgins had made homosexual advances to you in the terms you now assert, the ordinary person might be so provoked to totally lose control and do what you did.

Justice Osborn said Mr Higgins' injuries, which included six broken ribs and a battered face, were horrific.

The court heard Johnstone moved into the rented flat of Mr Higgins and was his friend for some years.

"Your attack was a savage betrayal of his trust and generosity," Justice Osborn said.

The judge said he took into account that Johnstone was affected by alcohol at the time of the bashing, his conduct was followed by some degree of remorse and he was relatively co-operative with police.

Justice Osborn said Mr Higgins, a disability pensioner, was described to the court as having a kindly and generous nature and his bloody and violent death had a deep impact on his family.

"Phillip Higgins' family has lost a dearly loved member in circumstances which will leave them with a permanent sense of overwhelming hurt and loss," he said.