A m b r I d g e university press

SECTION 2
Newsreader: This is the 6 o’clock news for Tuesday 25 November. And first the
headlines:
The Prime Minister has promised to help the drought stricken farmers in the
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northern part of the country who haven’t seen rain for nearly two years. And in
Sydney a group of school children are successfully rescued from a plane which
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landed in the sea shortly after take-off. Transport workers are on strike in
Melbourne over a pay claim and the strike looks set to spread to other states. And
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on a fashionable note, there s to be a new look for the staff of QANTAS,
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Australia’s national airline.
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The Prime Minister has pledged today that he will make two hundred and fifty
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million dollars available to help the drought stricken farmers who have not seen
ram for years, get through the next five years. Money that was to have been spent
on the re-structuring of Sydney’s road system has been re-allocated to what the
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P:rime Minister described as 'a more worthy cause'. Farmers are to receive
financial assistance to help see them through the worst drought in over 50 years.
Many farmers feel that while the money is welcome it has come too late to save
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them and their farms from financial ruin and are angry that the government did
not act sooner.
A group of school children who were travelling in a privately chartered
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aeroplane from Sydney to Queensland to take part in a musical concert found
themselves swimming for the shore when their aeroplane had to land in the sea
just three minutes after taking off from Sydney airport. The pilot managed to
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bring the aircraft and its 50 passengers down safely in the calm waters of Botany
Bay where boats and pleasurecraft were able to come to the rescue of the boys.
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The fact that it was a weekend meant that there were hundreds of boats in
the bay enjoying the good weather and this undoubtedly helped the rescue
operation. 'We owe our lives to the skill of the pilot,' said one of the boys, but the
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pilot replied modestly that it was 'all part of a day’s work'. However, all their
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musical instruments were lost and they never got to play at their concert.