In The Herald: 1978

Sydney Morning Herald

Wednesday January 7, 2009

Malcolm Brown

* Vietnamese forces had moved deep into Cambodia, the furthest they had penetrated since serious fighting broke out the year before. They had opened an offensive along virtually the entire 800-kilometre border between the two countries and had reached Neak Leung, the main crossing point on the strategic Highway One, which linked Phnom Penh to the former Saigon.

* Senator Neville Bonner (pictured), the first Aborigine to sit in Federal Parliament, was refused service in a hotel in Mount Isa and complained to the State Licensing Commission. The commission contacted the licensee, J. M. Boyd, who assured the commission that he and his staff would do "everything possible" to comply with non-discrimination regulations. Satisfied, the commission passed on the assurance to Senator Bonner, who was most disappointed, and said all that did was put discretion right back into the hands of the licensee and staff.

* The premier, Neville Wran, rejected a demand by maximum-security prisoners at Parramatta Gaol that they be paid an average wage in line with what people earned outside. He said the prisoners were not entitled to it; that jails were not to be run by prisoners - they were places of punishment and correction. The government was awaiting the report of the Nagle royal commission, which had been set up after the Bathurst Gaol riots. Wran would see Justice Nagle to discover when the government could expect the report.