Greens to decide ACT's next government

THE Greens will hold the balance of power in the ACT Legislative Assembly, after Labor and the Liberals won eight seats each, resulting in a hung parliament.

Greens MLA Shane Rattenbury is the sole remaining representative of the minor party, and is now expected to begin negotiations to decide who will form the territory's next government.

Elections ACT completed counting the vote on Saturday, a week after the election.

Electoral Commissioner Phil Green announced the names of the candidates who were elected to the 17-member parliament.

With several close races for the final places in the three multi-member electorates, the make up of the assembly has not been clear for much of the week.

Labor and the Liberals each won 38.9 per cent of the primary vote.

On numbers, the Liberals were a mere 41 votes ahead, out of more than 221,000 formal ballots cast.

The Greens won 10.7 per cent of the primary vote - a 4.9 per cent rebuff from the 2008 election.

The formal declaration of the poll is likely to happen on Wednesday.

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Philippines storm toll rises sharply

THE death toll in the Philippines from Typhoon Son-Tinh rose sharply to 24 on Saturday as casualty reports from isolated central islands and the far-flung south flooded in, the government said.

Drowning and landslides were given as the cause of 11 deaths on small islands in the country's mid-section, the national disaster council said in its latest tally.

The other 13 victims were carried away by flash floods, buried by landslides, hit by falling trees and flying debris, electrocuted, or died from exposure to the cold, it added.

The official death toll from the typhoon, which was classed as a weaker "tropical storm" when it passed over the Philippines, had stood at six on Friday.

Eight fishermen from the central and southern Philippines remained missing at sea, the government agency said.

Rescuers are also still searching for a man believed buried in a landslide on the main southern island of Mindanao, it said, adding that more than 15,000 people displaced by the storm are still sheltering at government buildings and receiving disaster aid.

Food and other forms of aid were given to nearly 40,000 people who chose to remain at home or temporarily moved in with relatives or friends, it added.

The Philippines endures about 20 major storms or typhoons each year, mainly during the rainy season between June and October.

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Six dead as storm batters Philippines

A TROPICAL storm has left six people dead and nine missing in the Philippines and is heading towards Vietnam and southern China.

Civil Defence chief Benito Ramos says the fatalities include an 88-year-old woman who died of hypothermia, a 77-year-old man hit by a falling tree, both in the central Philippines, and a child who had gone swimming in the storm.

Ten people were also injured as the storm triggered floods, landslides and maritime accidents, said Ramos.

Four of the missing were fishermen who had put to sea despite warnings. Another child who had gone swimming during the storm was also among the missing.

Son-Tinh battered more than 30 provinces in the central, eastern and southern Philippines and power was cut in some central and eastern provinces.

More than 30,000 people stranded at seaports and airports were expected to resume their journeys after storm warnings were lifted on Friday and floodwaters began subsiding.

The Philippine weather bureau says tropical storm Son-Tinh entered the country early on Wednesday.

It was located about 440 kilometres west of northern Zambales province at midday on Friday, moving at 22km/h. It had sustained winds of 75km/h and maximum winds of 90km/h.

It was forecast to hit China as a typhoon late on Saturday, the US Navy and Air Force Joint Typhoon Warning Centre said.

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Bouncer jailed for Ivy Bar bashing

A BOUNCER involved in the brutal bashing of a patron outside Sydney's prestigious Ivy Bar will spend the next nine months behind bars.

Judge Peter Berman sentenced former security guard, Menelaus Hendra, 35, to a maximum of 18 months in jail with a nine-month non-parole period in Sydney's District Court on Friday.

In August a jury found Hendra guilty of common assault for kicking Nicholas Barsoum during a brutal beating by several security guards at the Ivy on August 28, 2011.

Judge Berman told the court that although Hendra hadn't instigated the incident, he kicked Mr Barsoum when his face was already swollen like a balloon and he could barely sit on a stool.

"This is one of the worst types of common assault," he told the court.

Halfway through Judge Berman's statement, Hendra handed his phone to his girlfriend as security guards walked into the courtroom.

Hendra's girlfriend broke down in tears as she kissed Hendra goodbye and he was led out of the court.

Judge Berman told the court a fight between Mr Barsoum and the Ivy security guards had broken out on the night but it was difficult to tell who had started the violence.

"But given what happened next to Mr Barsoum it simply doesn't matter," he told the court.

"He was kicked. He was punched. He was stomped on."

Many passersby witnessed the bashing, with one witness saying "his face was like I've never seen ... He was just like a balloon and there was blood all over him."

Judge Berman said although Hendra was not the person to cause the injuries to that point, it was important to understand the state Mr Barsoum was in when Hendra kicked him.

Earlier the prosecution had submitted that Hendra had said "stop, stop, he's mine" before kicking Mr Barsoum.

Following several beatings, police arrived at the club and were told by security guards that Mr Barsoum had been the offender.

He was arrested by police before they conceded that he was in fact the victim.

"He did not have a good night," Judge Berman told the court.

"To say that Mr Barsoum was defenceless is an understatement."

In sentencing Hendra, Judge Berman rejected the offender's claim that he had been acting in self-defence after he was spat on by Mr Barsoum and said that Hendra was "an aggressor" and did not do anything to prevent further beatings.

He also said given Hendra's clean record and testimonials from family and friends, his decision to commit the crime and his lack of remorse were "puzzling".

"Mr Hendra's attitude towards his criminality is remarkable," he said, adding that Hendra regarded himself as the victim in the ordeal.

"Kicking a man who was already suffering from severe injuries is very serious.

"He should have been controlling violence, not inflicting it for his own purposes."

The jury had found Hendra not guilty of assault causing actual bodily harm in company but found him guilty of the lesser charge of common assault.

Hendra will be eligible for parole in July 2013.

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PM under pressure over mining jobs

PRIME Minister Julia Gillard is under pressure from the Labor caucus to make mining companies contribute more to local communities and review the government's plan to allow more foreign mine workers.

A caucus subcommittee set up in May is to put the final touches to its review of "spreading the benefits of the mining boom" at a meeting in Canberra next Tuesday during the week's parliament sitting.

The final report, which is currently only a draft, is to go to caucus by the end of the year.

A number of Labor MPs have been critical of the government's first enterprise migration agreement (EMA), which was announced in May and covers Gina Rinehart's Roy Hill project in Western Australia.

The subcommittee is expected to seek stronger commitments to use Australian labour ahead of foreign workers and have the EMA policy reviewed.

The report will also cover the operation of the jobs board - set up to offer jobs to Australian mine workers - as well as Australian industry participation plans, fly-in fly-out work, tax arrangements, maximising opportunities for indigenous workers, skills training and benefits for regional development.

A source close to the 30-page draft report said the government should be looking at ways to ensure mining companies contributed more to local mining communities.

If mining companies benefited from greater flexibility and lower costs, the MPs argue, they should reciprocate in the form of skills training and the use of local fabricating and engineering groups.

Australian Workers Union secretary Paul Howes said his union was not opposed to temporary foreign worker programs but the system needed to be improved and the caucus move was welcome.

"We believe there needs to be proper labour market testing, there needs to be use of the jobs board," Mr Howes told Sky News on Thursday.

"(The companies) must demonstrate to the Australian government and community they have sought to fill those jobs with domestic labour first."

He said the Roy Hill project EMA had not been through proper checks.

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Pulp mill opponents welcome wind farm idea

ANTI-PULP mill campaigners have welcomed a proposal to build a wind farm on the site of failed timber company Gunns' contentious project in northern Tasmania.

A company called Tamar Valley Renewables (TVR) says it wants to buy the land on which Gunns had proposed to build the controversial $2.3 billion mill.

TVR says it confirmed its interest in the site with Gunns receivers KordaMentha this week.

Spokesperson for Pulp The Mill, Lucy Landon-Lane, says the idea would have the social licence the pulp mill lacked.

"I just think that it's something that the community would support wholeheartedly, particularly after the last seven years of campaigning against the pulp mill," Ms Landon-Lane told AAP.

"I think this kind of proposal is something that will work in all kinds of ways so hopefully the administrators, if they have a heart, will take that into consideration."

TVR has been formed by Martin May, a former director of Victorian wind farm operation Hepburn Wind.

Mr May says he has a pool of investors interested in constructing a large wind farm of possibly 100 turbines that could be operational in three years.

He says the project would create hundreds of jobs during the construction phase and up to 30 permanent positions after that.

Mr May says the site is well positioned with on-site access to the electricity grid, proximity to the Basslink cable to the mainland and favourable wind conditions.

"There's a lot of things that are very attractive from our perspective which (already) exist," he said.

"I'm pretty confident at this stage."

Gunns' inability to attract an investment partner to build the pulp mill, at Bell Bay north of Launceston, is considered one of the major reasons for the company's collapse last month.

The permit to build the mill could still be sold to a developer but it is also the subject of a Supreme Court challenge from the Tasmanian Conservation Trust.

"The permit is in many senses moot ... so that uncertainty currently diminishes its value to somebody who's looking to be a buyer and a developer of a pulp mill," Mr May said.

Receivers KordaMentha said it was too early to tell whether the bid might be successful.

"The receiver is still completing its strategic review of that planned pulp mill asset," a spokesperson said.

"The receiver always welcomes hearing from anyone who's interested in any of the Gunns assets but it's far too early for the receiver to decide what strategy to implement on that asset."

Local mayor Roger Broomhall said any development application for the site would be assessed on its merits.

"I think probably many in the community would welcome anything on that particular site at the moment," he said.

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Qld literacy and numeracy grants announced

THE Queensland government will spend $26 million over the next four years on literacy and numeracy programs in state primary schools.

Education Minister John-Paul Langbroek says the grants will be handed out based on need, not enrolment figures.

"The earlier we get involved in kids' literacy and numeracy learning the more successful they will be, which is why we are targeting students in Prep to Year 2," Mr Langbroek said in a statement.

"These grants will enable our state schools to tailor literacy and numeracy programs to the specific needs of their students and school communities."

Mr Langbroek said individual schools would be given the flexibility to decide the best way to spend the money.

The first grants will be handed out before the end of the current school year.

"Schools will then have time to develop literacy and numeracy programs so their Prep to Year 2 students can benefit from the start of the 2013 school year," Mr Langbroek said.

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Carbon tax adds up to 0.4% to CPI

THE carbon tax has pushed prices up but it is difficult to say by how much.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) said on Wednesday that it wouldn't be able to quantify the effect of the carbon tax on the consumer price index (CPI).

CPI, a key measure of inflation, rose 1.4 per cent in the September quarter, ABS figures show.

JP Morgan Australia chief economist Stephen Walters said his initial estimate showed it added 0.3 to 0.4 per cent to the headline CPI.

He said the biggest impact had been on electricity and gas prices, which rose 15.3 per cent and 14.2 per cent respectively in the quarter.

"The impact of the carbon tax is evident in the fact that electricity and gas prices soared last quarter, but it is difficult to be precise about the extent to which the tax lifted headline inflation," Mr Walters said.

"Some of the gain in electricity prices, for example, came from the annual price rises designed to help fund network expansions."

However, Commonwealth Bank of Australia chief economist Michael Blythe said the effect of the tax was closer to 0.2 per cent, suggesting it may not push prices up as much as official forecasts expected.

"This outcome suggests that the price impact will fall short of earlier Treasury modelling work that put the CPI contribution in 2012/13 at 0.7 percentage points," he said.

The tax has not had the same impact on prices as the introduction of the GST in 2000, which affected a broader range of goods and services and pushed the inflation rate to 6.1 per cent from 3.1 per cent.

Mr Walters said the RBA would look through the initial spike in prices when it next contemplated whether to change the cash rate, like it did when the GST was introduced in 2000.

"The size of the spike last quarter, though, means there now could be second and subsequent price rises related to the carbon tax that also will be difficult to detect," he said.

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Asian white paper to be launched on Sunday

PRIME Minister Julia Gillard will launch the government's long-awaited Asian Century white paper in Sydney on Sunday.

The paper, which runs for more than 300 pages, is the work of an advisory panel set up last year and led by former Treasury boss Dr Ken Henry.

Ms Gillard has said it will be blueprint to lift Australia's engagement with Asia and identify opportunities for government and business.

Dr Henry told a conference last month the paper would cover a broad range of issues including education, language skills, technology and security in the fastest growing region on the planet.

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Bushfires burning across SA

ELEVEN bushfires in South Australia's remote Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (APY) lands have destroyed about 425,000 hectares of scrub after being sparked by lightning at the weekend.

The Country Fire Service say the fires on the APY lands are among a number being monitored across the state after Sunday's storms.

Smaller grass fires near Hawker, in the mid-north, have destroyed about 400ha. A fire near Moomba, in the state's northeast, is being monitored by oil and gas company Santos.

There is no threat to people or property.

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Vic cancer centre seeks private ward

VICTORIA'S new $1 billion cancer centre may have an extra floor devoted to private patients.

Health Minister David Davis said the Peter MacCallum Cancer Institute's board was considering applying to add one floor for private patients to the new Victorian Comprehensive Cancer Centre (VCCC) being built at the Melbourne suburb of Parkville.

The proposal would need to be financially viable to get the green light, Mr Davis said.

"It would have to be clearly in the interests of Victorian cancer patients," he told reporters on Monday.

"The question would be in part whether the additional capacity that is provided, private capacity ... on top of the public capacity, would be of advantage to Victorian cancer patients."

Opposition Leader Daniel Andrews said the entire cancer centre should be available to every Victorian, regardless of whether or not they could afford insurance.

"Cancer does not discriminate based on your wealth, based on your income, based on your private health fund membership," Mr Andrews told journalists.

Comment was being sought from Peter Mac.

The VCCC is expected to open in 2016.

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Bonds higher on global markets.

AUSTRALIAN bond futures prices have risen in line with global markets, ahead of the release of key inflation data later in the week.

Commonwealth Bank interest rate strategist Phillip Brown said there was a reversal on the US market on Friday night and that had flowed through to the Australia market on Monday.

He said bonds were much weaker towards the end of last week but rose over the weekend.

"We could never explain the sell-offs on Wednesday and Thursday - it seemed a bit much," Mr Brown said.

He said Monday's activity was a normal kind of rebalancing after a big sell-off.

Mr Brown said Australia's Consumer Price Index (CPI) on Wednesday would be the event of importance.

"It will be a very unusual CPI because a headline number greater than one per cent is very likely, and yet an RBA (Reserve Bank of Australia) rate cut in November is also very likely.

"The difficulty will be in disentagling the underlying number from the headline.

"Carbon tax will be a big issue, health insurance will be a small issue, and they'll contribute to headline inflation being much higher than underlying inflation."

At 1630 AEDT on Monday, the December 10-year bond futures contract was trading at 96.935 (implying a yield of 3.065 per cent), up from 96.900 (3.100 per cent) on Friday.

The three-year bond futures contract was at 97.540 (2.460 per cent), up from 97.490 (2.510 per cent).

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$3 billion cuts to keep budget in surplus

THE federal government is expected to slash public spending by at least $3 billion so it can keep a promise to return the budget to surplus this financial year.

Labor is due to hand down its mid-year budget update on Monday, after cabinet signs off on the document reviewing growth and budget outcomes laid down in May.

Treasurer Wayne Swan says the cuts will be "significant", to offset declines in revenue created by a weaker global economy and lower commodity prices in the past six months.

"The savings will be significant, but they will be targeted and responsible, minimising the impact on the economy," he said in an economic note released on Sunday.

New Treasury analysis showed that after factoring in the new measures, the underlying cash balance was now expected to improve by 0.9 per cent of gross domestic product in 2012/13, Mr Swan said.

The government is committed to delivering a $1.5 billion surplus this year, with growth expected to remain solid at around 3.25 per cent and the central bank having room to cut official interest rates further to stimulate demand.

"You want the government, at a time when the economy is growing, to be putting fiscal policy back on a more normal setting," Finance Minister Penny Wong told Sky News on Sunday.

"And you want monetary policy to do more work."

Financial market economists predict the government is facing a budget hole of at least $3 billion due to bigger than expected slump in Australia's terms of trade.

"A savings package of this magnitude is achievable," Westpac chief economist Bill Evans said.

Some measures already floated include raising tobacco tax by 25 per cent, which could deliver more than $1 billion, and increasing visa charges for skilled migrants, backpackers and spouses of Australian citizens.

As well, the government is set to receive a $300 million dividend from the government-owned health insurer Medibank Private and plans to scrap $240 million in university grants.

But business groups fear industry could bear the bulk of the savings measures through cuts to tax concessions and have told the government it shouldn't be locked into a surplus.

"We always said this should not be at any cost and should be revisited if economic conditions deteriorated," Business Council of Australia president Tony Shepherd said in a statement.

While Labor is making cuts, it also has to find money for some large programs, including a National Disability Insurance Scheme, a dental scheme and schools funding.

There are also costs linked to processing and detaining rising numbers of asylum seekers.

Mr Swan said the cuts to be announced in the mid-year economic and fiscal outlook (MYEFO) would protect the most vulnerable in the community.

The parliamentary secretary to Opposition Leader Tony Abbott, Senator Arthur Sinodinos, criticised Labor's budget framework.

"This government's made an art over the last few budgets of overestimating revenue," he told Network Ten.

Opposition Leader Tony Abbott said Labor could not be trusted with public money.

"Their record is always the same - it's more spending, it's higher taxes and it's cooking the books," he told reporters in Sydney.

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Fatah claims victory in West Bank poll

FATAH supporters are claiming victory ahead of official results in the first West Bank election since 2006, in a local poll boycotted by Hamas.

In the southern city of Hebron, supporters of the Fatah party of president Mahmud Abbas, which dominates the West Bank-based Palestinian Authority, were out on the streets celebrating as early as late on Saturday.

The movement claimed in a statement to have won in most of the municipalities, towns and villages on the West Bank.

"We consider the victory as a major popular referendum on the movement's political programme and its national performance," spokesman Ahmad Assaf said in the statement.

Polling stations shut Saturday after 12 hours of voting and preliminary results are not expected until 1600 GMT Sunday.

Shortly after the end of voting, Hanna Nasser, chairman of the Central Elections Commission (CEC) said 277,000 out of the 505,600 eligible voters had cast ballots, putting the turnout at 54.8 per cent.

"The elections went very smoothly," he told reporters in Ramallah.

The last time the Palestinians voted was in the general elections of January 2006, which the Islamist Hamas movement won by a landslide.

Hamas also chalked up major wins during the last local elections in 2005, the first time it had participated in the democratic process.

This time however, Hamas refused to take part following the collapse of unity talks with the rival Fatah party.

That left Fatah pitted against independents and leftist groups such as the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) and the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP).

Saturday's vote was only held in 93 of the West Bank's 354 municipalities, as candidates in another 179 localities were appointed unopposed. Elections in the remaining 82 areas will be held on November 24, the CEC said.

In parts of Ramallah, roadworks blocked several streets and the stench of sewage filled the air as residents went out to decide who would be on the next municipal council charged with running the city, an AFP correspondent said.

While some welcomed the opportunity to vote, others were sceptical about the prospect of change.

"I don't expect much from these elections despite what I hoped for because there aren't any qualified candidates," said 60-year-old Mohammed Zahdeh, from Hebron.

"This is a farce, not an election," said Abu Abdullah, a 56-year-old trader from Nablus.

"We want real elections that represent us, where people are capable of serving their country, and don't just bandy around political slogans."

Abbas, after voting at a school in El-Bireh near Ramallah, expressed disappointment that the election was not taking place in Gaza.

"We hope our brothers in Hamas will let the democratic process take place in Gaza, not only for local elections but also for presidential and parliamentary elections," he said.

But Hamas said holding the vote solely in the West Bank served only to cement the yawning divide between the two main political movements in the Palestinian territories.

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