FED:The winners and losers of 2011

AAP General News (Australia)
12-28-2011
FED:The winners and losers of 2011

** AAP Senior Correspondent Doug Conway nominates Australia's winners and losers of 2011 **

WINNERS:

BRIAN SCHMIDT: Australian-based astronomer wins the Nobel Prize for physics, and urges
"policy people" to listen to scientists on climate change.

BEN ROBERTS-SMITH: SAS Corporal receives the Victoria Cross for gallantry for taking
on Taliban machine gun positions in Afghanistan, and urges Australians to remember the
digger "heroes" who do not come back alive.

WAYNE SWAN: Named world's best finance minister by Euromoney magazine, becoming the
only Australian winner since Paul Keating in 1984.

PETER SLIPPER: Embattled Liberal MP quits party to become Speaker of the House of Representatives,
replacing Labor's Harry Jenkins who goes to the backbench in a move that shores up the
numbers of the minority Gillard government.

BILL SHORTEN: The Gillard backer tipped as a future Labor leader is rewarded with a
cabinet post in a ministerial reshuffle along with TANYA PLIBERSEK and MARK BUTLER. Promotions
also arrive for MARK ARBIB and GREG COMBET, and NICOLA ROXON becomes the nation's first
female federal attorney-general.

BHP BILLITON: Posts an Australian record annual net profit of $22.46 billion.

PRINCE WILLIAM: Future king wins the hand of commoner CATHERINE MIDDLETON, marrying
at Westminster Abbey in a ceremony watched by billions worldwide.

SIMON MCKEON: Victorian lawyer, banker and philanthropist is named Australian of the Year.

BARRY O'FARRELL: Becomes NSW Premier in a record election victory, producing a statewide
swing of 16 per cent which decimates Labor. Former electrician and Unions NSW boss JOHN
ROBERTSON becomes opposition leader after KRISTINA KENEALLY falls on her sword.

JAY WEATHERILL: Former Education Minister becomes South Australian premier after power
brokers force MIKE RANN to stand down after 17 years as Labor leader.

LARA GIDDINGS: Sworn in as Tasmania's first female premier after the shock resignation
of DAVID BARTLETT.

TOM HOOPER: The King's Speech director wins one of five Aussie Oscars, along with short
animated filmmaker SHAUN TAN.

GUY PEARCE: Wins an Emmy for best supporting actor in a mini-series, Mildred Pierce,
and declares: "It was delightful. I got to have sex with Kate Winslet many, many times."

CADEL EVANS: Crowned Tour de France champion, the first Australian cyclist to win the
fabled 108-year-old road race.

SAMANTHA STOSUR: Becomes the first Australian woman in 38 years to win a US Open tennis title.

SALLY PEARSON: Wins the 100m hurdles world championship in 12.28s, the fastest time
for the event in 19 years.

JAMES MAGNUSSEN: Storms to victory in the 100 metres freestyle at the world swimming
championships in Shanghai.

MICHAEL CLARKE: Appointed 43rd Australian cricket captain, with SHANE WATSON named as his deputy.

MICKEY ARTHUR: The South African becomes Australian cricket's first non-Australian head coach.

FRANCE: Claims the Melbourne Cup for a second straight year as DUNADEN and replacement
jockey CHRISTOPHE LEMAIRE get home by a millimetre in the closest finish in the race's
151-year history.

GOLD COAST: Wins the right to host the 2018 Commonwealth Games.

MANLY: Lands its second NRL title in four years as brothers BRETT and GLENN STEWART
score tries that pilot the Eagles to a 24-10 victory over New Zealand's Warriors.

GEELONG: Claims its third AFL flag in five years by delivering a 38-point victory over
Collingwood for first year coach CHRIS SCOTT.

A-LEAGUE: Secures two of its biggest names ever in current Socceroos HARRY KEWELL (Melbourne
Victory) and BRETT EMERTON (Sydney FC).

LOSERS:

JULIA GILLARD: Poor opinion polls dominate her year. Her main consolation is that Opposition
Leader TONY ABBOTT fares little if any better. Despite political successes such as the
passing of carbon tax and mining tax legislation, primary support for federal Labor slumps
to record lows and remains in election-losing territory.

RUPERT MURDOCH: Loses his biggest-selling UK newspaper, the News of the World, shut
down over phone hacking allegations.

TIGER AIRWAYS: Grounded for six weeks by the Civil Aviation and Safety Authority over
serious safety concerns.

QANTAS: Grounded by itself, sparking two days of travel chaos worldwide as chief executive
ALAN JOYCE orders a lock-out to bring a protracted industrial dispute to a head.

KIM CARR: Dumped from cabinet in PM Gillard's reshuffle.

SIMON OVERLAND: Quits as Victoria's Chief Police Commissioner after the state ombudsman
says he was responsible for releasing misleading crime statistics before the last state
election.

CRAIG THOMSON: Federal Labor MP beset by claims he misused a union credit card to pay
for prostitutes, lavish meals and cash withdrawals.

BRENDAN FEVOLA: Troubled AFL star sacked by Brisbane Lions after a number of off-field incidents.

IAN THORPE: Australia's most successful Olympian flops, at least initially, in his
comeback aimed at the 2012 London Olympics.

NICK D'ARCY: Loses a $180,000 damages judgement in a civil case brought by former Australian
swim teammate SIMON COWLEY, whose jaw D'Arcy broke in an assault in 2008.

JULIAN ASSANGE: WikiLeaks founder loses British High Court appeal against extradition
to Sweden over claims of sexual assault. A further appeal will keep him in Britain until
next year.

BALI BOY: Fourteen-year-old Australian boy (name withheld) arrested for allegedly possessing
marijuana in Bali.

RYAN TANDY: Former Canterbury Bulldogs forward fined $4000 for trying to manipulate
the first scoring play of a 2010 Bulldogs v Cowboys match. Could face time behind bars
after also being found guilty of lying to the NSW Crime Commission.

JUDY MORAN: Gangland matriarch jailed for 26 years, along with her hired hitman GEOFFREY
ARMOUR, over the shooting murder of DESMOND "TUPPENCE" MORAN.

MATTHEW JOHNSON: Convicted of murdering cellmate and underworld assassin Carl Williams
by bashing him in Barwon prison, and jailed for life. A judge calls it "an appalling killing
by a man with an appalling history".

MARK STANDEN: Former top crime investigator jailed for at least 16 years over a plot
to import $120 million worth of drugs into Australia..

TONY KELLY: Former NSW Labor MP found to be corrupt by ICAC for forging a letter about
a property deal when he was lands minister. Now faces criminal charges carrying a maximum
10 years in prison.

PAUL "DOUG" PETERS: Arrested by an FBI SWAT team in the US and extradited to Australia
over his alleged involvement in the Madeleine Pulver collar bomb hoax in Sydney.

GRAEME REEVES: Gets a minimum two years in jail for removing a female patient's genitals
and indecently assaulting two other patients.

LIAN BIN "ROBERT" XIE: Charged with murdering five members of the Lin family in Sydney's
north west in 2009.

KELI LANE: Former water polo player sentenced to at least 13 years in jail for murdering
her newborn baby Tegan, who has never been found.

AAP dc/mo

KEYWORD: YEARENDER WINNERS REPEAT

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