THE NATION THE AUSTRALIAN,TUESDAY, JUNE 7, 2016

theaustralian.com.au 5V1 - AUSE01Z01MA

Aussie kids also-rans in the race for fitness

Aussie kids are in danger of lettingthe side down, scoring a mediocremark on an international rankingof fitness levels.

And, despite growing up in acountry that prides itself on sport-ing excellence, today’s screen-obsessed children would come offsecond best in tests comparingtheir fitness levels with those ofchildren in the 1970s.

A series of international stud-ies led by the University of SouthAustralia is examining the cardio-

respiratory fitness of morethan 1.1 million children aged nineto 17 from 50 countries.

Researcher Grant Tomkinsonsaid the yet-to-be-released inter-national rankings comparing theresults of 20m shuttle-run datafound that Australian kids wereaverage.

The findings follow an earlierstudy on fitness, released lastweek in the British Journal ofSports Medicine, which foundboys were outperforming girls.

While two thirds of boys had acardio-respiratory fitness ratewithin healthy limits, only 50 percent of girls fell within that range.

Dr Tomkinson said Australian

children had received a D minusranking for activity, with less than20 per cent doing the recom-mended 60 minutes of moderateto vigorous exercise a day.

Of the latest study on interna-tional rankings, Dr Tomkinsonsaid: “There are big disparitiesacross the world and clusters ofcountries that either perform wellor badly, but Australia tends to bemid-range. The aerobic fitness ofAustralian children has droppedoff by around 4 to 5 per cent perdecade since the 1970s.”

Australia’s continued domin-ation in sports was not guaran-teed, the study showing a declinein the fitness of children entering

elite development programs suchas the Australian Institute ofSports in Canberra, he said.

“There are less fit kids goinginto elite programs, and they areprobably less fit going out ofthem,” he said.

While cardiovascular fitnesswas linked to performance insports, it was more importantly ameasure of overall health.

“Cardio-respiratory fitness isstrongly and independently rela-ted to cardiovascular disease,stroke, diabetes and mentalhealth issues,” he said.

The findings correlate withthose from a 2014 report thatfound, while up to 85 per cent of

Australian children were partici-pating in organised sport, physicalactivity levels were dropping.

The rise of the iPad generationwas blamed for driving this dropin activity, only a third of childrenmeeting the recommended targetof no more than two hours ofscreen time a day.

Gymnastics SA high-perform-ance manager Andrew Cordery,based at Adelaide’s Marion Lei-sure Centre, said the benefits ofsport for young people were long-lasting. “From gymnastics, theycan become active and confidentin their abilities to do lots ofthings, whether it’s climbing a treeor playing tennis,” he said.

EXCLUSIVE

REBECCA PUDDY

JAMES ELSBY

Seven-year-olds Sophie and Rosy at the Marion Leisure Centre in Adelaide. A study of fitness levels has found girls are failing to keep pace with boys

The head of Queensland’s JusticeDepartment, David Mackie, hasbeen dragged into an industrialrelations row after he was allegedto have misdated documents usedto suspend senior lawyers.

Solicitors Jeremy Weston andhis supervisor, Siobhan Parer,were suspended from their jobs inthe Justice Department’s CrownLaw section on June 12 last year.

They were then “frogmarched”out of their city offices by Queens-land Corrective Services officersafter a secret internal investi-gation. The pair took action in theQueensland Industrial RelationsCommission to overturn the sus-pensions, alleging it was in retali-ation for complaints about asenior official, deputy crown sol-icitor Helen Freemantle. CrownLaw has denied it was retaliation.

Following significant publicitylast month about the lawyers’ casein the commission, Crown Lawtook the extraordinary step of

seeking a suppression of all mat-erial filed in the commission relat-ing the case.

Commissioner Glenys Fisheragreed all material filed, except forredacted material filed in accord-ance with this order, not be pub-lished or searched.

Because of the suppression,The Australian is unable to reporton the material filed.

During an application hearingon March 7, Mark Martin QC, rep-resenting the suspended lawyers,raised questions about the “dele-gations”, or official permission

documents, created by the JusticeDepartment’s director-general,Mr Mackie.

He had signed documents todelegate permission to CorrectiveServices deputy director-generalMark Rallings to deal with theParer and Weston matter. MrMackie took the action of delegat-ing authority to Mr Rallings toavoid any suggestion of conflict ofinterest.

Mr Martin told the commis-sion both these delegations haddates that did not appear to matchthe dates of the suspension.

He said Mr Mackie appeared tohave dated the delegation to acton the Parer matter as being onSeptember 10, 2015 or 2016.

Ms Parer and Mr Weston weresuspended on June 12, 2015.

“You will see where he (MrMackie) signs it 10 September andthen it looks like a 16, but if we lookat the body of the memorandumit’s dated the 10th of June, 2015. Ithink the signing date is meant tobe reference to the 10th of Septem-ber, 2015.”

Mr Martin said: “That is aserious matter which will be pur-

sued in this litigation, namely wasthere ever a proper delegation toMr Rallings? Because Mr Rallingswas the person who made thedecision to issue show-cause noti-ces, not Mr Mackie, the personwho under the act had … power todo it.

“Was there … some form ofretrospective delegation of thispower? It’s unclear, but this onlyhighlights the difficulties withCrown Law continuing to act foritself in this matter.’’

Mr Martin also raised the dateof the delegation to Mr Rallings to

deal with Mr Weston’s situation,which he said appeared to havebeen “written over”.

Yesterday, a spokesman for theQueensland Justice Departmentsaid the department “had actedwith propriety at all times”.

Ms Parer and Mr Weston havedeclined to comment.

The hearing was being held inrelation to an application toremove Crown Law from repre-senting itself in the case.

The application was initiallysuccessful but was overturned ona stay.

Justice chief embroiled in legal jobs rowEXCLUSIVE

RORY CALLINAN

The UN’s top marine official haspraised the Australian govern-ment’s management of theGreat Barrier Reef and urgeddonors to look beyond greengroups and directly supportUNESCO as an honest broker.

Fanny Douvere, head of theWorld Heritage Marine Pro-gram, said the Great Barrier Reefwas a textbook study of howgood work could be achievedwhen the UN acted as a brokerbetween environment groups,scientists and governments.

Ms Douvere led a 2012 UNmission to investigate concernsabout the impact of industrialdevelopment at Gladstone.

Intervention by the UN led toa comprehensive review of Aus-tralia’s reef management and thewithdrawal of a threatened in-danger listing by the WorldHeritage Committee last year.

Writing in Nature, Ms Dou-vere said Australia was proofthat “the most durable solutionsemerge when diverse viewpointsof activists, scientists and gov-ernment officials are effectivelymediated”.

Management of the reef hasbecome an election issue follow-ing serious bleaching and highcoral mortality on reefs off CapeYork. Green groups have beencampaigning hard for action, butreef authorities and Environ-ment Minister Greg Hunt haveexpressed concern at how thebleaching data and reef manage-ment has been presented.

Ms Douvere said that beforethe UN involvement in 2012, thereef had suffered as a result ofdecisions being made on anincremental basis that threaten-ed “death by a thousand cuts”.

In 2012, the World HeritageCommittee issued its first warn-ing that it would list the site as“world heritage in danger” un-less it saw proof of substantialprogress. “Australia’s govern-ment committed more than$200 million to improve waterquality and set an ambitious aimto reduce pollution run-off by80 per cent by 2025,’’ Ms Dou-vere said.

“Proposed port-developmentareas have been restricted from11 to four major ones, and futurecoastal development must alignwith a strategic plan aimed atimproving the health of the reefbetween now and 2050.”

In his address to the WorldHeritage Committee last July,Mr Hunt said that UNESCOadvice had allowed Australia “todo in 18 months what otherwisewould have taken decades”.

EDITORIAL P13

Reef care top class, says UN chief GRAHAM LLOYDENVIRONMENT EDITOR

Unscrupulous business advisersand a lack of business literacy inindigenous corporations havecombined to produce high levelsof fraud in remote communities,with 44 organisations and pro-grams under investigation na-tionwide.

The ABC’s Four Corners lastnight revealed a range of ques-tionable schemes in the multi-billion-dollar sector, includingone by Perth businessman GaryJohnson, who in 2013 was paid$6.6 million in management feesand profits through an arrange-ment with the Marra WorraWorra corporation at FitzroyCrossing in Western Australia.

The corporation receives morethan $14m in taxpayer fundingannually to deliver services inclu-ding housing, health and financialcounselling. However, in a deal aformer board director describedas “an unconscionable contract”,Mr Johnson’s agreement withMarra Worra Worra gave him50 per cent of all profits, 50 percent of all assets sales and 5 percent of all turnover.

Board director Lynette Shawtold the program that of twodirectors whose signatures wereon the document, one was finan-cially illiterate.

Former director Joe Ross wasquoted as saying “the poor direct-ors at the time wouldn’t have hadany clue about the ramificationsand the implications of what thecommunity was losing in econ-omic benefits from the contract”.

Mr Johnson, who the programsaid was in the process of remod-elling his $5.3m PeppermintGrove mansion, initially refusedto answer Four Corners questions.He later sent a statement saying“the contract was willingly en-tered into by both parties”.

Warren Mundine, chairmanof the Prime Minister’s Indigen-ous Advisory Council, said: “Wewouldn’t accept in the widerAustralian community … peoplesitting on boards who have nofinancial or no business back-ground. ”

Reconciliation Australia chiefexecutive Justin Mohamed toldthe program “there are pocketswhere exploitation has takenplace, people have come in anddone the wrong thing”.

The Department of PrimeMinister and Cabinet was investi-gating 44 organisations for mis-use and waste of funds, theprogram reported.

In another instance, serialconman Craig Dale swindled theorganisation running the EastKimberley town of Warmun of$3m, with promises of a state-funded building program afterthe town was destroyed by flood.

Fraud suspected in 44 remote programsSTEPHEN FITZPATRICKINDIGENOUS AFFAIRS EDITOR

Newly diagnosed cancer patientsshould be advised immediately todiet and exercise to improve theirchances of survival, world expertshave said.

Weight loss and physicalactivity were not just key tocancer prevention, but asimportant as drugs in the treat-ment of almost all types of thedisease.

Dozens of studies, presented atthe American Society of Clinical

Oncology conference in Chicago,showed that patients of a normalweight were twice as likely to sur-vive than those who were obese.Doctors are calling for lifestylechanges to be prescribed along-side medication.

Yale University researchersfound that mortality in womenwith cancer who did the equiva-lent of three hours brisk walking aweek fell 46 per cent.

THE TIMES

Work up a sweat to beat cancer

Lyle Meaney Managing Director,Investment Advisory

BEST SMSF ADVICE HOUSE

AW

ARDS

2013

* The information provided will be factual information or general advice and suitable for individuals or families with combined retirement assets of more than $300,000. Fees and charges may apply to any services or advice provided following any initial free consultation. Dixon Advisory & Superannuation Services Ltd ABN 54103071665 | AFSL 221143

Superannuation was a key feature of this year’s Federal Budget and the unexpected number of proposed changes has caused uncertainty for many SMSF trustees.

If you’re interested in discussing current investment markets, the potential implications of the Budget, as well as how we assist our clients to manage their SMSFs, please join our interactive seminar designed exclusively for SMSF trustees.

To book your place at one of our seminars*

call us today or visit our website.

1300 065 327dixon.com.au/smsf-seminars

How will the Budget affect your SMSF?SMSF seminars – limited time

Make your SMSF work harder

East Melbourne Tuesday 7 June, 12.30pm

East Melbourne Thursday 9 June, 12.30pm

Noosa Heads Thursday 9 June, 12.30pm

North Sydney Thursday 9 June, 5.30pm

Brisbane Wednesday 15 June, 12.30pm

Canberra Wednesday 15 June, 12.30pm

Broadbeach Thursday 16 June, 12.30pm

North Sydney Thursday 16 June, 12.30pm