Asbestos Problem Unearthed

Newcastle Herald

Tuesday February 8, 2005

THE construction union says work has been halted on luxury units in Tomaree Street, Nelson Bay, because of an asbestos problem.

Construction Forestry Mining and Energy Union organiser Paul Douglass said yesterday friable asbestos might cover as much as half the site.

Recent tree removal and earthmoving had exposed a large amount of asbestos.

Port Stephens Council said responsibility for safe management of the asbestos rested with the site developer, private building certifier and WorkCover.BRIBERY ADMISSION

DAVID James Misell, 58, a teacher at Box Hill TAFE in Melbourne, admitted soliciting a bribe from a student. Judge Graeme Crossley sentenced Misell to 12 months' jail, suspended for two years, in the Victorian County Court yesterday.

WATER SAVINGS

SYDNEY'S burgeoning western suburbs are to get a water recycling scheme in a $560 million project, the NSW Government said yesterday. The public-private partnership would reuse waste water in new land release areas in north-west and south-west suburbs.

TRIAL FOR MURDER

PISEY Prasoeur, 23, of Chadstone, was committed yesterday to stand trial for the murder of his ex-lover Aneta Pochopien, 32, on April 14 last year in her Melbourne driveway. Magistrate Brian Wright committed Prasoeur to stand trial in the Victorian Supreme Court on May 3.

PUBLIC EYE

THE Australian Education Union said yesterday it would not allow a Big Brother culture to develop at Victorian schools after revelations a principal used security cameras to monitor a teacher he later sacked.

DOCTOR JAILED

A BRISBANE doctor, 47, was jailed for four months for molesting his daughter. Judge Warren Howell sentenced him to 12 months' jail, suspended after four months.

CORRECTION

A report yesterday incorrectly identified Mr Paul Douglass as a CFMEU organiser. Mr Douglass is Port Stephens Council's sustainable planning group manager.