Ten faces business-wide cost restructure

Staff in sales and programming, as well as those working for its outdoor advertising arm, Eye Corp, face redundancy as a result of a strategic review ordered by interim chief executive Lachlan Murdoch in February.

Jim Carroll, the news director who hired 60 journalists for the extended news and current affairs schedule, resigned because he disagreed with the direction Ten was taking under Mr Murdoch. The Australian can reveal another Ten executive, Sydney station manager and head of broadcast control Darren Farnham, has also resigned.

Mr Farnham is the latest executive to stand down since Mr Murdoch and James Packer acquired 18 per cent of the free-to-air network in November and began to dismantle some of the news strategy. Carroll's well-attended farewell was held at the Lord Dudley pub in inner Sydney on Friday and the mood was sombre as news spread of the fate of many of the journalists working in newsrooms across the country.

About 90 staff, including programmers David Mott and Beverley McGarvey and state news directors, toasted Carroll's 10-year tenure at the network at what was seen as a last hurrah before the axe fell.

On-air staff who attended included newsreaders Natarsha Belling, Deb Knight, Kath Robinson and Brad McEwan.

Executives who have left the network since November include chairman Nick Falloon, chief executive Grant Blackley, head of sport David White, chief financial officer John Kelly, head of integrated sales Jude Allen, and chief digital officer Nick Spooner.

The network's news department, which received a massive $20 million boost six months ago, is expected to be hit hard by the cost restructure. A significant proportion of the sixty journalists hired by Ten as part of the news expansion are now under threat.

The future of current affairs programme 6.30 with George Negus is also in doubt, the Herald Sun reports. While the move to 6:30pm has improved its standing, the show remains well behind the offerings on Seven and Nine.

However, network insiders believe Ten Late Night News and Sports Tonight will be dropped before anything else. Such a decision could make longtime newsreader Sandra Sully the first high-profile casualty. The Daily Telegraph also claims Ten's local weekend news bulletins could be axed.

Ten already confirmed last week that it would not pursue rights to any AFL games from next year.

Meanwhile, Ten's Sydney station manager and head of broadcast control, Darren Farnham, is reportedly the latest executive to resign. It follows news director Jim Carroll stepping down earlier this month after disagreeing with the direction Murdoch is taking the network.

These represent just two in a long line of executive departures since Murdoch and James Packer purchased 18 per cent of Ten in November. Others include chairman Nick Falloon, chief executive Grant Blackley, general manager for sport David White, chief financial officer John Kelly, head of integrated sales Judy Allen, and chief digital officer Nick Spooner.

Dicko fights political correctness

IAN Dickson does not miss being a judge on Australian Idol. The 48-year-old says he always thought there was more to life and to him. Finally, he has the chance to prove it.

Dickson is sitting in an office inside Channel Ten's compound in South Yarra. He has just completed a media preview of Can of Worms, a panel-based program he is hosting that will make its debut on the network on Monday.

The conceit of the show comes from the man we used to call Dicko's most infamous moment as judge on the now defunct but once powerhouse Idol franchise.

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One of that show's season-one contestants, Paulini Curuenavuli, walked on stage wearing that black and gold dress.

Dickson, as ever, was blunt in appraising her appearance.

''I said she needs to shed pounds or choose more appropriate clothes,'' he recalls. ''That was me with a filter on. But my whole world went into meltdown.''

Australian public have had my opinion for eight years and it's time for me to shut up," he said. "To be honest, I'm sick of what I think, so I'm sure the public is too."

Warnie, The White Room, The Catch Up and Ben Elton: Live From Planet Earth are just some similar chat-style shows that have suffered the chop not long after making their debuts.

But the 48-year-old says in the cut-throat world of commercial television he has the backing of Ten to ensure the axe won't fall on the quirky show too quickly.

"TV ratings are like a national pastime in Australia," he says. "It's bizarre and I've never seen this in any other country.

"Everyone's out there waiting for you to fail. This is a show that may not find its feet until episode five or six. I don't want to focus on the figures because it's an unusual concept and it might take people some time to catch on to what it is."

Dickson says he has high hopes of taking the show global, with his eye on a UK launch should the show hit the mark Down Under.

But what about his own can of worms - the rumours that he didn't want to be called Dicko anymore?

"I really don’t know where that came from, honestly, and it makes me laugh. I’m sure that story was designed to make me look like a bit of a wanker, and I don’t need any journalist’s help for that.

"There’s only one person in the world that calls me Ian and that’s my wife when she’s really p***ed off, so if everyone starts calling me Ian, I’ll be a nervous wreck. It’s Dicko. It’s always been Dicko and always will be Dicko.

Florence Brudenell-Bruce: Prince Harry

Prince Harry, the rough-and-tumble brother of the recently wed Prince William, is dating lingerie model Florence Brudenell-Bruce. Or, rather, meeting Brudenell-Bruce for a series of "secret trysts."

This despite Harry's recent assertion that he's "100 percent single," he's apparently been spotted making time with Brudenell-Bruce and spending time at her Notting Hill home.

And, because stuff like this apparently figures into tabloid gossip in London, comely young Florence is "a descendant of the seventh Earl of Cardigan who led the Charge of the Light Brigade." Which obviously makes her way more attractive than, say, some lingerie model whose ancestors merely churned butter or were pressed into service in the Royal Navy.

in reality, he's reportedly with Florence Brudenell-Bruce, an underwear model who could hold her (hot!) own against Kate's cute sister.

The two have been friends for years, sources tell The Daily Mail, with an insider saying:

"It's very early, but Harry and Florence are an item. "She is a lot of fun, blonde and very good looking. Harry really likes her."

Brudenell-Bruce is a descendant of the seventh Earl of Cardigan. As we all know, he led the Charge of the Light Brigade on October 25, 1854.

Prince Harry's trysts with his new love:Queen approve

Family tree showed that blue-blooded blonde Florence Brudenell-Bruce, 25, is an eighth cousin of the 26-year-old royal.

Brudenell-Bruce's links to Harry, Princess Diana and even Prince Charles' second wife, Camilla, can be traced back to the 18th century.

A family tree revealed that as well as being an eighth cousin of her new beau, she is also a distant cousin of both Diana and Camilla.

The common factor in the aristocratic web is the Honourable Sir Edward Walpole, the son of Britain's first prime minister, Sir Robert Walpole.

Sir Edward, who died in 1784, had a daughter, Maria, who married into the royal family.

Queen’s grandson has been secretly seeing lingerie model Florence Brudenell-Bruce for four weeks, it has emerged.

Harry’s seven-year on-off relationship with Zimbabwean-born Chelsy Davy has finally come to an end. And the Apache helicopter pilot has just ‘started dating’ 25-year-old Miss Brudenell-Bruce, sources confirmed, with private trysts thought to have taken place at her £400,000 Notting Hill flat, in West London.

The pair seem to have plenty in common – including family. They are, in fact, eighth cousins.

One might argue that anyone who has the name Florence Anne-Marie Brudenell-Bruce bestowed upon them has a certain obligation to live up to such a splendid moniker. To her credit, the lady in question has dutifully endeavoured to do just that in her 25 years.

She has dated the Formula 1 racing driver Jenson Button, she has starred in a Bollywood movie, she has posed for risqué modelling shots in her underwear and even lain herself on a mortuary slab in the name of art for a forthcoming episode of TV detective drama Lewis.

She is beautiful – how could a woman with such a title be plain? – aristocratic and impeccably mannered – and to her friends, she is known as ‘Flee’, which suggests a spiritual, otherworldly dimension to her character.

It is doubtful that anyone who knows her is remotely surprised to learn, if reports are correct, that she is stepping out with Prince Harry. The only surprise might be that it has taken her so long to land him.

Last week, at a posh pre-Wimbledon party, Florence confirmed she had split from her latest boyfriend, Henry St George, who like Flee, sounds like a character from a Barbara Cartland novel.

Climate change sceptic Lord Monckton takes umbrage at gassing

Professional orator, who admits he has no academic qualification on climate science, today addressed a Perth mining conference and will tonight deliver a speech at Notre Dame University which has been sponsored by West Australian mining magnate Gina Rinehart.

More than 50 Australian academics have signed a letter urging the university to cancel the speech on the basis that Lord Monckton ''stands for the kind of ignorance and superstition that universities have a duty to counter".

Lord Monckton was this week forced to apologise to the Gillard government's chief climate change adviser, Ross Garnaut, for comparing him to a Nazi during a recent speech in the US.

Today he lashed out at the Australian media for failing to accurately represent his views.

After addressing the Association of Mining and Exploration Companies annual conference, he said journalists should be asking climate scientists why they were predicting a rate of warming up to five times greater than experienced over the past 60 years.

The media should also be asking how much money it would cost to mitigate global warning compared to the cost of the climate damage that may arise if no action was taken.

''If you were more curious about those questions you would find just how fascinating this whole scam that has been put together to lead people away from those questions,'' he said.

''You should start asking these questions because great damage will be done to your economy if you go down the road of a carbon tax and the MRRT. Both of these are disasters in the making and will drive Australia straight into the third world.

Lord Monckton said on his side of the climate change debate, when people "screwed up" they didn't pretend they hadn't.

His comments came amid pressure from 50 Australian academics who are calling on the University of Notre Dame to cancel his talk tonight.

Lord Monckton is being sponsored by mining magnate Gina Rinehart to deliver the Lang Hancock Lecture at the university.

But postgraduate student Natalie Latter has written to Notre Dame saying it is inappropriate for him to speak and infringes on its academic credibility.

Lord Monckton said he was not fazed by the push, but said if it only involved 50 academics then Australian academia "is in a better state than many parts of the world".

"I'm glad to see a free country where we are allowed to speak out and the university very gladly resisted the blandishments of those who say 'no you mustn't listen to this man'," he said.

"All credit to Notre Dame for saying 'no, we will hear both sides of this cause'."

Lord Monckton said academics should not be threatened by a layman like him, but by scientists who shared his view.

During his speech at the Association of Mining and Exploration Companies, Lord Monckton said the cost of trying to reduce the effects of global warming far outweighed the cost of inaction.

He said the carbon tax would also put Australian companies at a severe disadvantage in competing with China.

Torres Strait Islands

Torres Strait Islands are a group of at least 274 small islands which lie in Torres Strait, the waterway separating far northern continental Australia's Cape York Peninsula and the island of New Guinea. They are mostly part of Queensland, a constituent State of the Commonwealth of Australia, with a special status fitting the native (Melanesian) land rights, administered by the Torres Strait Regional Authority. A few islands very close to the coast of mainland New Guinea belong to the Western Province of Papua New Guinea, most importantly Daru Island with the provincial capital, Daru.

History

It was at Possession Island that Lieutenant James Cook first claimed British sovereignty over the eastern part of Australia in 1770. The London Missionary Society led by Rev. Samuel Macfarlane arrived on Erub (Darnley Island) on 1 July 1871. This is referred to by the Islanders as "The Coming of the Light" and is celebrated annually by all Island communities on 1 July. The Torres Strait Islands were annexed in 1879 by Queensland. They thus became part of the British colony of Queensland and after 1901 of the Australian state of Queensland although some of them lie just off the coast of New Guinea.

In 1898-1899 the Torres Strait Islands were visited by the Cambridge Anthropological Expedition led by Alfred Cort Haddon.

In 1904, the Torres Strait Islanders become subject to the Aboriginal Protection and Restriction of the Sale of Opium Act. 1897 (QLD)

The proximity to Papua New Guinea became an issue when it was moving towards independence from Australia, which it gained in 1975. The Torres Strait Islanders insisted that they were Australians, but the Papua New Guinea government objected to complete Australian control over the waters of the strait.

Eventually an agreement was struck whereby the islands and their inhabitants remain Australian, but the maritime boundary between Australia and Papua New Guinea runs through the centre of the strait. In practice the two countries co-operate closely in the management of the strait's resources.

Geography

The islands are distributed across an area of some 48 000 km². The distance across the Strait from Cape York to New Guinea is approximately 150 km at the narrowest point; the islands lie scattered in between, extending some 200–300 km from furthest east to furthest west.

The Torres Strait itself was formerly a land bridge which connected the present-day Australian continent with New Guinea (in a single landmass called Sahul or Australia-New Guinea). This land bridge was most recently submerged by rising sea levels at the termination of the last ice age glaciation (approximately 12,000 years ago), forming the Strait which now connects the Arafura and Coral seas. Many of the western Torres Strait Islands are actually the remaining peaks of this land bridge which were not submerged when the ocean levels rose.

The islands and their surrounding waters and reefs provide a highly diverse set of land and marine ecosystems, with niches for many rare or unique species. Saltwater crocodiles inhabit the islands along with neighboring Queensland and Papua New Guinea. Marine animals of the islands include dugongs (an endangered species of sea mammal mostly found in New Guinean waters), as well as Green, Hawksbill and Flatback Sea turtles.

Top Western islands

The islands in this cluster lie very close to the southwestern coastline of New Guinea (the closest is less than 4 km offshore). Saibai (one of the largest of the Torres Strait Islands) and Boigu are low-lying islands which were formed by deposition of sediments and mud from New Guinean rivers into the Strait accumulating on decayed coral platforms. Vegetation on these islands mainly consists of mangrove swamps, and they are prone to flooding.

The other main island in this group, Dauan (Mt Cornwallis), is a smaller island with steep hills, composed largely of granite. This island actually represents the northernmost extent of the Great Dividing Range, the extensive series of mountain ranges which runs along almost the entire eastern coastline of Australia. This peak became an island as the ocean levels rose at the end of the last ice age.

See also: Birds of Boigu, Saibai and Dauan Islands (Torres Strait)

Near Western islands

The islands in this cluster lie south of the Strait's midway point, and are also largely high granite hills with mounds of basaltic outcrops, formed from old peaks of the now submerged land bridge. Moa (Banks Island) is the second-largest in the Torres Strait, and Badu (Mulgrave Island) is slightly smaller and fringed with extensive mangrove swamps. Other smaller islands include Mabuiag, Pulu and further to the east Naghir (correct form Nagi) (Mt. Ernest). Culturally this was the most complex part of Torres Strait, containing three of the four groupings/dialects of the Western-central Islanders. Nagi was/is culturally/linguistically a Central Island (Kulkalaig territory), Moa was/is a Kawalaig (Kaurareg) island, with two groups, the Italaig of the south, and the Muwalaig of the north. The Muwalgal and Italgal were the same people as those of the Inner Islands. Badu and Mabuiag were/are the Maluigal Deep Sea People.

Inner islands

These islands, also known as the Thursday Island group, lie closest to Cape York Peninsula, and their topography and geological history is very similar. Muralag (Prince of Wales Island) is the largest of the Strait's islands, and forms the centre of this closely grouped cluster. The much smaller Waiben Thursday Island is the region's administrative centre and most heavily populated. Another small island is Dumaralug Island which is found a few hundred meters south of Muralag. Several of these islands have permanent freshwater springs, and some were also mined for gold in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Because of their proximity to the Australian mainland, they have also been centres of pearling and fishing industries. Nurupai Horn Island holds the region's airport, and as a result is something of an entrepôt with inhabitants drawn from many other communities. Kiriri (Hammond Island) is the other permanently settled island of this group; Tuined (Possession Island) is noted for Lt. James Cook's landing there in 1770. Moa in the Near Western group is culturally and linguistically speaking part of this group.

Central islands

This cluster is more widely distributed in the middle of Torres Strait, consisting of many small sandy cays surrounded by coral reefs, similar to those found in the nearby Great Barrier Reef. The more northerly islands in this group however, such as Gebar (Two Brothers) and Iama (Yam Island), are high basaltic outcrops, not cays. Culturally-speaking, Nagi of the Near-Western group is also part of this group, and also has high basaltic outcropping. The low-lying inhabited coral cays, such as Poruma (Coconut Island), Warraber Island and Masig (Yorke Island) are mostly less than 2–3 km long, and no wider than 800 m. Several have had problems with saltwater intrusion.

Eastern islands

The islands of this group (principally Mer (Murray Island), Dauar and Waier, with Erub Island and Ugar (Stephen Island) further north) are formed differently from the rest. They are volcanic in origin, the peaks of volcanoes which were formerly active in Pleistocene times. Consequently their hillsides have rich and fertile red volcanic soils, and are thickly vegetated. The easternmost of these are less than 20 km from the northern extension of the Great Barrier Reef.

Regional Authority

An Australian Commonwealth statutory authority called the Torres Strait Regional Authority (TSRA) is responsible for governance of the islands. The TSRA has an elected board comprising 20 representatives from the Torres Strait Islander and Aboriginal communities resident in the Torres Strait region.

There is one representative per established local community. These board members are elected under the Queensland Community Services (Torres Strait) Act 1984 and Division 5 of the ATSIC Act 1989. The TSRA itself falls under the portfolio responsibilities of the Australian Government Department of Families, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs (previously under the Department of Immigration and Citizenship). The administrative centre of the islands is Thursday Island.

The TSRA now represents the local communities at both Commonwealth and State levels - previously State representation was via a (closed since March 2008) Queensland statutory authority, the Island Coordinating Council (ICC).

Local (shire) level government

At the local level there are two authorities, the Shire of Torres which governs several islands and portions of Cape York Peninsula and operates as a Queensland Local Government Area. The Torres Strait Islands Region, created in 2008, is the embodiment of 15 former island councils, these areas have been relinquished by the Government of Queensland to specific Islander and Aboriginal Councils under the provisions of the Community Services (Torres Strait) Act 1984 and the Community Services (Aboriginal) Act 1984.

Badu Island Council

Bamaga Island Council

Boigu Island Council

Dauan Island Council

Erub Island Council

Hammond Island Council

Iama Island Council

Kubin Island Council

Mabuiag Island Council

Mer Island Council

Poruma Island Council

Saibai Island Council

Seisia Island Council

St Pauls Island Council

Ugar Island Council

Warraber Island Council

Yorke Island Council

Demographics

Torres Strait Islanders, the indigenous peoples of the islands, are Melanesians, culturally most akin to the coastal peoples of Papua New Guinea. Thus they are regarded as being distinct from other Aboriginal peoples of Australia, and are generally referred to separately. There are also two Torres Strait Islander communities on the nearby coast of the mainland, Bamaga and Seisia.

According to the 2001 Australian census ABS figures, the population of the Torres Strait Islands was 8,089, of whom 6,214 were either of Torres Strait Islander or Aboriginal origin.

There are two indigenous languages spoken on the islands: the Western-Central Torres Strait Language (called by various names, including Kala Lagaw Ya, Kalaw Kawaw Ya and Kowrareg), and the Eastern Torres Language Meriam Mir. One language, Torres Strait Creole, or Brokan, is used throughout Torres Strait, in neighbouring Papua as far as the West Papuan border area, and Cape York, as well as in many Island communities in Mainland Australia. This is a creole English similar to the closely related Tok Pisin in Papua New Guinea.

Family to shed light on Torres Strait Islands

Former PNG health minister, Sir Peter Barter has spoken out strongly against any move by Australian authorities to refuse TB treatment to PNG citizens in the Torres Strait.

Australian health workers in the Torres Strait won't have funding to treat sick PNG nationals as from tomorrow... but that won't stop patients turning up daily for treatment for potentially deadly tuberculosis. Australia's financial year ends today, June 30.

Sir Peter Barter, an Australia-born now retired PNG politician, says it would be inhumane and criminal to turn away PNG citizens crossing the border for needed medical treatment in the Torres Strait.

The celebration marks the 140th anniversary of the culturally significant ''Coming of the Light'', which was the name given to the London Missionary Society's arrival in Torres Strait.

Uniting all the arts organisations in the South Bank precinct for the first time, the landmark celebration will feature art collections, performances, lectures and activities for all ages from July 1 to October 23, including:

* An exhibition of archival materials from the State Library of Queensland's collections, Strait Home, from July 1 to October 23;

* Land, Sea and Sky: Contemporary Art from the Torres Strait Islands, an exhibition of work by more than 40 artists at GoMA from July 1 to October 9;

* Awakening: Stories from the Torres Strait, a collection of objects, including ceremonial masks and archaeological findings at the Queensland Museum from current to October 2;

* The 2011 Mabo Oration at QPAC on July 3; and more.

Arts Minister Rachel Nolan said Torres Strait Islands: A Celebration was the most extensive celebration of Torres Strait Islander arts and culture ever mounted.

Jillian and her mother were both born in Torres Strait and her five oldest children, although born in Australia, also spent their early years in Torres Strait.

At sunset tomorrow, they will join other Torres Strait Islander men, women and children in singing contemporary and traditional hymns and music from Torres Strait.

The Voices for the Light choir will perform from 5 to 6pm

Man threatened to cut out own tumour

HOSPITAL patient who became so agitated after a long wait he threatened to perform elective surgery on himself was a before a criminal court today.

Ian James Bool was booked in for surgery at the QEII Hospital in Brisbane's south to have a benign lump removed from his head but became upset after he waited 6½ hours without being operated on.

Prosecutor Carson Lloyd told the District Court in Brisbane at one stage Bool told a nurse: "Give me a scalpel and I'll cut the f------ thing out myself."

Mr Lloyd said Bool then began to pace up and down before going to the reception desk where he grabbed a box cutter.

Bool had extended the blade and waved it in the direction of a nearby doctor saying: "I'll f------ cut it off and you stitch it up."

Hospital security was called and Bool was escorted out.

Bool, 53, pleaded guilty to going armed in public to cause fear on June 28 last year.

Barrister Eon MacGiolla Ri, for Bool, said his client had waited 18 months for the surgery and had arrived at the hospital at 7am.

He said Bool had been fasting since the day before and was cold and hungry by 1.30pm.

Bool was also worried about his elderly mother who was waiting for him in a car outside.

Judge Terry Martin, SC, noted Bool had been placed on probation in February for other offences after spending 151 days on remand.

Defence barrister, Eoin Mac Giolla Ri, said his client had sat in the waiting room for several hours wearing nothing but a hospital gown.

He was also hungry after fasting since the previous day, and had become frustrated that other patients were being seen before him.

He said his client was bipolar and hypermanic, and was vulnerable to impulsive acts.

Bool was escorted from the hospital by security after the incident, and is still waiting to have the growth removed.

Bool pleaded guilty today to one count of going armed to cause fear.

He was sentenced to six months' probation, and ordered to undergo psychiatric treatment as required.