JUNE 5 2011 Page 25ST

thesundaymail.com.au 25NEWS

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Anger overrape adviceNew lawsuit targets AustraliaKay DibbenCrime

Flashback: The SundayMail’s earlier coverage.

Complaint:Alicia Gali saysshe wasn’twarned thather rape claimscould lead toher being sentto jail.

A QUEENSLAND womanwho is suing the luxuryUnited Arab Emirates resortwhere she claims she wasdrugged and raped byco-workers is trying to suethe Commonwealth of Aus-tralia.

Alicia Gali, 29, claims aconsular officer in Dubai,from whom she sought ad-vice, never told her that bycomplaining to police sherisked being sent to jail.

Ms Gali spent eightmonths in jail for adulteryand drinking alcohol with-out a permit.

In March, Ms Gali, whohas suffered depression andexperienced flashbacks, was

given leave to bring aQueensland claim against LeMeridien Al Aqah BeachResort, Fujairah, where sheworked as a salon manager.

She claims that in June2008, she was raped by threeor four male employees atthe resort’s staff quarters,after consuming part of adrink in the staff bar.

Lawyer Michelle James, ofMaurice Blackburn, said in astatement that a distressed

Ms Gali contacted an Aust-ralian consular officer, tell-ing her that she had beendrugged and raped and didnot know whether sheshould go to hospital.

Ms Gali claims the femaleofficer told her if drugs weredetected in her system, shecould face life imprisonment.

However she says she wasnot warned that a rapecomplaint could lead toher being jailed foradultery.

Ms Gali’s SupremeCourt application tobring a claim againstthe Commonwealth ofAustralia will beheard in Brisbane onTuesday, three daysbefore expiry of thelimitation period.

DollarcripplesexportsKelmeny Fraser

EXPORTERS are calling forgovernment intervention todeflate the strong Australiandollar in a desperate attemptto stop tumbling profits.

Radical suggestions bymajor Queensland exportersinclude more aggressive tac-tics by the Reserve Bank tomoderate the mighty rise ofthe dollar against othercurrencies or a cap on theamount of movement of thedollar in any one year – aproposal that could signala return to a fixed exchangerate.

Economists say the pro-posal would mean pumpingpiles of cash into the market tomoderate the dollar, with po-tentially little effect, or wind-ing the clock back decades.

But exporters struggling tosurvive the crippling effects ofa dollar valued at $US1.06 saidthe volatility of the marketwas killing many Queenslandindustries.

High DramaAGENDA P55-57

fraserk@qnp.newsltd.com.au