News briefs
Record profit for BHP
NEWCASTLE — Mining and steel production giant BHP is set to reach record profits again this year, announced within days of the confirmation that more jobs are to be slashed in the Hunter area Rod and Bar Division. With its May production report revealing an increase of 11% in its domestic steel dispatches and 4% in exports, company observers are predicting a net profit for the 1994-95 financial year of $1.6-$1.8 billion, an increase on last year's $1.28 billion.
Panic defence report
SYDNEY — A report was launched here on June 7 by the Lesbian and Gay Legal Rights Service documenting a community forum at which academics, criminologists, legal experts and activists discussed the use of "homosexual panic defence" in criminal murder trials. A violent reaction to an alleged homosexual advance is being treated in the courts as almost justifiable, with sentencing in such murder cases being considerably more lenient. Over the past two years some defendants have successfully argued that the killing of another man was justified because it was in response to an unwanted sexual advance.