Anger over attack on HK journos in China

HONG Kong journalists have condemned an attack on two cameramen outside the Beijing home of the wife of jailed Nobel laureate Liu Xiaobo, slamming it as a violation of press freedom.

The pair were beaten up by a group of unidentified men when they were filming an activist's attempt to visit Liu Xia, who is herself under house arrest, at her apartment building on Friday.

One of the cameramen was punched in the face and pushed to the ground, while the attackers also tried to snatch the camera from the other journalist and hit him in the head, Hong Kong TV news footage and reports said.

"The violence is a serious infringement of press freedom," the Hong Kong Journalists Association said in a statement late Friday.

While attacks on journalists are not new on the mainland, the association said the degree of violence in the latest assault showed "the situation is getting worse."

Hong Kong activist Yang Kuang who was trying to visit Liu Xia was apparently taken away in a police car hours later and his whereabouts remain unknown, the South China Morning Post reported Saturday.

The security guards at Liu Xia's apartment had refused to let Yang enter, before a group of men came out to push away him and yelled abuse at the journalists and set upon the two cameramen, the Post said.

A spokesman for the Hong Kong government said it was "highly concerned" over the incident, and that the right to report on the mainland must be respected.

Liu Xia has been held under house arrest since her husband - who was sentenced to 11 years in jail in 2009 for "subversion" after co-authoring a bold petition calling for reforms - won the peace prize in October 2010.

In December, Chinese activists including top dissident Hu Jia broke through a security cordon to visit Liu Xia in a daring affront to the authorities, the first time in more than two years that friends have been able to visit her.

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Woman shot in legs in Sydney's west

A WOMAN has been shot a number of times in her legs in Auburn, before more shots were fired at a house in the same western Sydney suburb.

Police were called to Auburn Road at 2.40pm (AEDT) on Saturday after reports of a shooting.

They found a 43-year-old woman with a number of gunshot wounds to her legs.

She was taken to hospital in a stable condition.

In a second incident, which happened 20 minutes later, a number of shots were fired into a house on Provincial Street, also in Auburn.

No one was injured but police are continuing their investigations.

Police say it's too early to link the two shootings.

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Aussie netballers want a pay rise

AUSTRALIA'S national netball team want to more than double their pay, with their union claiming the pay gap with other sports is a gender issue.

The Australian Diamonds want their current average salary of $10,000 a year boosted to $25,000, says the Australian Workers' Union (AWU).

AWU organiser John-Paul Blandthorn says the union will head to the Fair Work Commission after talks with Netball Australia broke down.

He said the popular women's sport suffered from a gender gap in pay, with Netball Australia offering only two per cent of revenue to players compared with other sports paying 20 per cent.

"There's been a conscious decision by other sports to give a certain amount to athletes. In netball it's the opposite," Mr Blandthorn told AAP.

The union wanted players to get $430 per day for a 57-day schedule, up from the current $200, Mr Blandthorn said.

He said Netball Australia had made a counter offer of $250 per day for a 80-day schedule.

Netball Australia chief executive Kate Palmer said it was an ambition of the organisation for players to be paid as full-time athletes.

"We are delighted that the offer we have presented to the AWU is a significant improvement on the players' current salary levels," she said.

"It is a step forward for our sport."

Mr Blandthorn said most players had to work outside the sport, and they had not taken a pay rise in six years in an effort to allow the sport to consolidate.

"There can always be ambition. That doesn't pay the bills," he said.

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Two hurt, one critical, after Vic hit-run

A MELBOURNE man is in hospital with life-threatening injuries after being dragged 40 metres by a car in a hit and run.

Another man, 32, is also in hospital.

The two men are believed to have been struck by a car in Heidelberg West, in the city's north, around 10pm (AEDT) on Thursday.

The driver sped off after the crash.

The 31-year-old, who is in a critical condition, was dragged by the car, then thrown to the road.

Police say the two injured men had been part of a group involved in a heated argument over the car at a nearby home earlier that evening.

During that incident, two people were injured before the group decided to leave, only to have two of them later hit on the road by the disputed car.

The car was discovered at an Ivanhoe shopping centre on Friday morning, but the identity of the driver is still unknown.

Police believe everyone involved in the incident knew each other.

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PM points to Victorian Liberal woes

Federal Labor has made hay over the sudden Liberal leadership change in Victoria. Source: AAP

FEDERAL Labor has pointed to the under-siege Liberal government in Victoria, where voters are angry about services cuts, as evidence of the risks posed by a possible Abbott government.

New Victorian Liberal premier Denis Napthine on Wednesday night took over the Victorian Liberal leadership in the wake of Ted Baillieu's sudden resignation after a dramatic day in state politics.

Mr Baillieu and his government faced falling opinion poll numbers, budget challenges, allegations of corruption, and public concerns over health and TAFE cuts.

Dr Napthine immediately made overtures to the federal government ahead of the April Council of Australian Governments meeting in Canberra, where crime-fighting, schools and disability service funding will be on the packed agenda.

"I would very much like to have a better relationship with the federal government," he said on Thursday.

But he then demanded Ms Gillard reinstate $475 million removed from the state's hospitals over four years, above the $107 million handed back by the federal government last month.

On the Gonski schools funding reforms, Dr Napthine said his bottom line was "no school or individual student" be disadvantaged in any changes.

Ms Gillard says she will "work in the interests of all Victorians" with the new premier, but she warned voters had "grown weary" of state's service cuts.

"I think in the Victorian community the sense is they are sick of the Liberal cuts, and what I don't think people should have to risk is those cuts being added to by a Tony Abbott-led Liberal federal government," she said.

Ms Gillard declined to say whether the sudden, first-term leadership change in Victoria would blunt criticism of her takeover of the Labor leadership from Kevin Rudd in 2010.

But Mr Rudd commiserated with Mr Baillieu's fate, which mirrored his own.

"Politics is a very difficult life and to Ted Baillieu and his family our best thoughts and wishes go through to them on what is just a difficult day in someone's life," the former prime minister said.

Opposition Leader Tony Abbott said there was a "world of difference" between the Baillieu-Napthine changeover and the Rudd coup.

"There was no challenge, there was no ultimatum, he simply resigned and my heart goes out to Ted and his family," he said.

He declined to say whether he or his office had put pressure on the Victorian Liberals to make the change.

"Obviously I talk to my colleagues all the time about a whole range of subjects but ... we were working very constructively with Ted Baillieu," he said.

The state Liberal government, which holds power by the barest majority, is behind Labor in the polls and has a lot of work ahead of it before the Victorian election in 2014.

Meanwhile, Treasurer Wayne Swan said allegations in Queensland against former federal Liberal treasurer Peter Costello and his "Liberal mates" should be investigated.

Mr Costello's commission of audit for the Newman government recommended Queensland sell power assets and consider outsourcing health, transport and other services to reduce debt.

Now he's had to deny his lobbying firm could stand to financially benefit from any sales.

Mr Swan said the Queensland audit was a smokescreen to break election promises. Mr Abbott plans a similar audit if he wins government this year.

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Fed hospital cuts 'politically motivated'

FEDERAL cuts to state hospital funding were politically motivated to improve the budget and that calls into question the federal government's commitment to heath reforms, a scathing Senate report says.

Just weeks after Prime Minister Julia Gillard bypassed the Victorian government to directly fund hospital administrators, the coalition-dominated Senate committee says her government should immediately reinstate funding cuts made in October last year.

The mid-year budget cuts to hospitals sparked a long-running stoush with Victoria and Queensland, which complained of losing hundreds of millions of dollars because of a revision based on "dodgy" population figures.

The committee agreed the population calculations were flawed and said their use was indefensible.

It said the health cost index also used to determine payments was "woefully inadequate" in reflecting true cost increases.

The states signed up to the national health funding agreements, instigated by former prime minister Kevin Rudd, "in good faith", the Liberal chair of the committee Scott Ryan wrote in the report.

"But it appears the commonwealth pursued politically motivated funding cuts to improve its financial position at the expense of public hospital users," Senator Ryan said.

"The evidence provided to the committee in relation to funding of public hospitals since December 2012 calls into question the Commonwealth government's commitment to hospital reform."

Victoria claims the commonwealth stripped $475 million from the state's health budget over four years - $107 million this financial year - complaints that were echoed by other states such as Queensland and NSW.

To end the standoff, Canberra bypassed Victoria's government by directly paying $107 million to hospitals.

Ms Gillard threatened to do the same in other states if they continued to agitate for a return of funding.

The Senate committee has made six recommendations, including that the commonwealth reinstate "as a matter of urgency" the funding cuts.

It also called on the federal government to "desist from attempts" to bypass states and fund hospitals directly.

Australian Greens health spokesman Richard Di Natale said the report showed the mid-year cuts "were an appalling act of penny-pinching".

The funding cuts had caused enormous upheaval in the public hospital system, he said.

"Surgeries have been cancelled, bed numbers have been reduced, emergency departments have been put under threat," he said.

"The federal government relied on a dodgy interpretation of population data as justification for its cuts, and then tried to get away with it by blaming it on the states."

A spokesman for Health Minister Tanya Plibersek dismissed the inquiry that produced the report as a "political stunt".

"We will respond to the report in due course, but it's clear that the commonwealth has acted in accordance with the agreements that it has signed with the states and territories," he said.

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Coal proceeds 'funded Obeid lifestyle'

EDDIE Obeid and his wife have "plainly" been funding their lifestyle with "millions and millions of dollars" from a controversial coal deal in the NSW Upper Hunter, the state's corruption watchdog has heard.

The Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) is examining the 2008 opening up of coal mining in the Bylong Valley by former Labor minister Ian Macdonald.

ICAC claims the now disgraced former minister rorted a bid process for coal exploration licences in the coal rich valley to benefit former Labor powerbroker Eddie Obeid.

Commissioner David Ipp said on Wednesday that in ICAC's view Eddie Obeid and his wife Judith funded their lifestyle from proceeds flowing from the critical Mount Penny tenement.

"It's quite plain from the accounts that Mr and Mrs Obeid fund their lifestyle from loans made through the Obeid companies," Commissioner Ipp told Eddie Obeid's lawyer, David Williams SC.

"They are able to do that through monies coming in from Mount Penny, millions and millions of dollars.

"The benefit of the monies is real to them."

The Obeids have received $30 million from a coal mining venture in the Bylong Valley, and are still owed another $30 million, the ICAC has previously been told.

It has also been told that money from Mount Penny has been put towards a Mercedes-Benz car for Eddie Obeid, and to buy property in Sydney for his wife Judith.

Mr Williams spent much of the day casting doubt on the "money trail" allegedly linking funds from Mount Penny to the Obeid family.

At one point, Mr Williams queried ICAC forensic accountant Grant Lockley over an amount of $166,000 said to have flowed from Mount Penny into Obeid accounts.

"You can't swear on your oath that the $166,000 came from Mount Penny money, can you?" Mr Williams put to the witness.

He went on to label the "whole process" of tracing money from Mount Penny to the Obeids as "illegitimate" and "conceptually inappropriate".

Mr Lockley was earlier this week forced to deny accusations of bias, noting that he's "only interested in the money trail".

ICAC also heard on Wednesday that "adverse findings" by the commission might be recommended against a business associate of Mr Macdonald, John Gerathy, relating to him trying to retrieve a legal file linked to the inquiry.

"I think there is a possibility I will be putting a submission that adverse findings be made against Mr Gerathy related to the Tianda file," counsel assisting the commissioner, Geoffrey Watson SC, said.

Mr Gerathy was this week excused from giving evidence to ICAC for a second time on the grounds that he's suffering from a mental illness.

The inquiry continues on Thursday.

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Ex-Nufarm predator new Roundup distributor

A SUBSIDIARY of a Chinese company that unsuccessfully tried to take over agricultural chemicals supplier Nufarm has been appointed the new distributor of the Roundup weedkiller in Australia and New Zealand.

Nufarm, which currently holds the right to distribute Roundup-branded glyphosate, announced on Tuesday that it would lose that right near the end of August 2013.

The Australian subsidiary of Chinese-based global chemical firm Sinochem International is the new distributor of Roundup in Australia and New Zealand.

Sinochem Australia said on Wednesday that international agricultural biotechnology firm Monsanto, the owner of Roundup, had granted it the right to exclusively distribute Roundup in Australia and New Zealand from September 2013.

Sinochem Australia managing director Roger Angell is a former head of Australia and New Zealand for Monsanto. Two other senior executives of Sinochem Australia are also former employees of Monsanto.

Sinochem will initially focus on promoting Roundup's quality and effectiveness.

"Sinochem Australia and Monsanto will commit significant resources to the marketing and development of Roundup brands in Australia and New Zealand," Mr Angell said.

Over time, Sinochem will introduce a comprehensive range of crop protection products to Australia and New Zealand to complement the Roundup range.

As the company's business grows in Australia, Sinochem will consider formulating and producing some of its products at Australian plants.

Nufarm terminated takeover talks with China's Sinochem Corporation in December 2009 because a revised and lower offer from Sinochem of $12 per Nufarm share was unacceptable - down from an original proposal of $13 per share.

Nufarm's glyphosate sales under the Roundup brand in Australia and New Zealand were worth about $100 million in fiscal 2012.

Nufarm said on Tuesday that its cost position would improve after the end of the agreement with Monsanto, and it expects to maintain a strong presence in the glyphosate market.

Shares in Nufarm were 31 cents higher at $5.16 on Wednesday.

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Mix 94.5 remains Perth radio king

ABC'S local radio station in Perth, 720, has been knocked off the mantle as the No.1 breakfast radio station - beaten by Mix 94.5.

The latest radio ratings show Mix 94.5 has increased its breakfast listeners by 0.9 percentage points to 14.9 per cent, while ABC720 has dropped 0.7 percentage points to 13.8 per cent.

Mix 94.5 has also won the drive time slot with a 14.2 per cent share of listeners, followed by 92.9 with 13.6 per cent.

In the first radio survey of the year, Mix 94.5 remains on top as the overall favourite radio station with 14.3 per cent of the audience share, followed by 96FM, Nova 93.7 and 92.9.

ABCFM was the biggest loser overall, dropping 1.2 percentage points to 2.3 per cent.

Overall Perth radio ratings for all age groups:

1. MIX 94.5 - 14.3 (up 0.1)

2. 96FM - 12.5 (up 0.8)

3. NOVA93.7 - 11.1 (up 1.0)

4. 92.9 - 10.8 (up 0.8)

5. 6JJJ - 10.2 (up 0.1)

6 ABC720 - 9.9 (down 0.7)

7. 6PR - 8.7 (up 0.4)

8. 6IX - 4.6 (down 1.0)

9. ABCFM - 2.3 (down 1.2)

10. 6RN - 1.7 (up 0.3)

11. NEWSR - 1.2 (down 0.3)

* Radio ratings figures supplied by Nielsen and cover the period January 20 - February 23, 2013, compared with previous survey October 28 - December 1, 2012.

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Mix 94.5 remains Perth radio king

ABC'S local radio station in Perth, 720, has been knocked off the mantle as the No.1 breakfast radio station - beaten by Mix 94.5.

The latest radio ratings show Mix 94.5 has increased its breakfast listeners by 0.9 percentage points to 14.9 per cent, while ABC720 has dropped 0.7 percentage points to 13.8 per cent.

Mix 94.5 has also won the drive time slot with a 14.2 per cent share of listeners, followed by 92.9 with 13.6 per cent.

In the first radio survey of the year, Mix 94.5 remains on top as the overall favourite radio station with 14.3 per cent of the audience share, followed by 96FM, Nova 93.7 and 92.9.

ABCFM was the biggest loser overall, dropping 1.2 percentage points to 2.3 per cent.

Overall Perth radio ratings for all age groups:

1. MIX 94.5 - 14.3 (up 0.1)

2. 96FM - 12.5 (up 0.8)

3. NOVA93.7 - 11.1 (up 1.0)

4. 92.9 - 10.8 (up 0.8)

5. 6JJJ - 10.2 (up 0.1)

6 ABC720 - 9.9 (down 0.7)

7. 6PR - 8.7 (up 0.4)

8. 6IX - 4.6 (down 1.0)

9. ABCFM - 2.3 (down 1.2)

10. 6RN - 1.7 (up 0.3)

11. NEWSR - 1.2 (down 0.3)

* Radio ratings figures supplied by Nielsen and cover the period January 20 - February 23, 2013, compared with previous survey October 28 - December 1, 2012.

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PM to attend ex-Speaker's funeral in Vic

PRIME Minister Julia Gillard is expected to interrupt her week in western Sydney to attend a state funeral for former federal Speaker Joan Child in Melbourne.

Ms Child, the first female Speaker of federal parliament, died on February 23, aged 91.

Ms Gillard and a number of former federal ministers are expected to be among about 300 people at the non-religious service at Monash University in Clayton at 11am on Tuesday.

Ms Gillard has said Australia has lost one of its pioneering female political leaders and she has lost a role model.

Ms Child was elected to the Melbourne seat of Henty in 1974, when she became the first female Labor member of the House of Representatives and only the fourth woman ever elected to the House.

She was Speaker from 1986 to 1989 under the Hawke government, and retired from parliament the following year.

Until the election of Labor's Anna Burke last October, Ms Child had been the only female Speaker.

The prime minister is on a five-day western Sydney stopover, widely seen as a bid to boost Labor support in the area where opinion polls signal a hammering for the party at the next election.

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Drink companies win recycling challenge

COCA-COLA has won its Federal Court challenge to the Northern Territory's cash for containers recycling scheme.

In the Federal Court in Sydney on Monday, Justice John Griffiths found in favour of three major beverage companies which had applied for the NT scheme to be declared invalid so they wouldn't have to comply with it.

Coca-Cola Amatil, Schweppes Australia and Lion Pty Ltd took the case against the NT government over the scheme, which is similar to a long-running one in South Australia and involves a 10 cent deposit on drink purchases, refundable when the container is returned to a recycling agent.

Coca-Cola increased its drink prices in NT when the scheme was introduced a year ago, and said its prices would drop if it won the court case.

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Three swift water rescues in Queensland

Residents of Dalby Queensland are fleeing floodwaters as the expected peak of 3.2 m could rise. Source: AAP

RAIN is easing in Queensland but it is going to be another wet week for the sodden southeast.

Emergency alerts were cancelled on Sunday afternoon for Somerset, Banana and Lockyer Valley council areas.

Although more rain is forecast, creeks and rivers are not expected to flood as badly as the downpours over the weekend.

There were 230 calls for help in the 24 hours to Sunday morning.

There were three swift water rescues - two in Brisbane suburbs and one in Brightview, west of Brisbane, where six children and adults had taken refuge on the roof of a car.

In the central Queensland town of Cracow, a woman who was isolated by floodwaters and suffering chest pains had to be rescued by helicopter.

The Bureau of Meteorology says the southeast experienced the heaviest falls in the 24 hours to 9am on Sunday, where 168mm fell at Deception Bay, 161mm in Burpengary and 92mm in Brisbane.

Beaches were closed on the Gold Coast.

Dalby, west of Brisbane, was the worst hit by the flooding.

Myall Creek peaked at 3.21 metres early on Sunday morning, breaking its banks at North Dalby.

Mayor Ray Brown believes between 30 and 50 properties were inundated but it was not clear on Sunday afternoon how many had water in living areas.

"We just want this water to drop so we can get in and clean up," he told AAP.

Homes in the Banana Shire in central Queensland were spared. Authorities had feared the worst.

Grevillea Creek peaked about 11pm (AEST) on Saturday and broke its banks in a rural area southwest of Biloela.

Mayor Ron Carige told AAP one family spent half the night on their roof as a precaution but their home was saved by a levee.

He knew of no homes or businesses that had been inundated but dozens of roads were cut.

The Department of Community Safety had urged locals to seek higher ground on Saturday night and warned life and property were under threat.

The weather bureau says it's concerned about river rises in the Condamine Catchment but no homes are expected to be in danger.

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Titanic II a tribute to lives lost: Palmer

Clive Palmer has dismissed critics who claim he isn't serious about building a Titanic II. Source: AAP

MINING magnate Clive Palmer has told British critics of his plan to build a replica Titanic that it's "bulls***" to suggest he's simply seeking publicity.

And he's denied inappropriately making money from the 1912 tragedy that cost over a thousand lives, arguing his Titanic II will be a tribute to them.

Some 1500 people died when the original Titanic sank on its maiden voyage from Southampton to New York.

At the London launch of Titanic II the first question fired at Mr Palmer was from a reporter with Southampton's daily newspaper.

The city still mourns 550 seafarers lost on the passenger liner.

"There are some concerns, putting it bluntly, that you are making money on the back of 550 dead," the Southampton reporter said at the Ritz Hotel.

Mr Palmer replied: "I haven't made any money yet and we still may not make any money."

The Mineralogy owner went on to argue Titanic II would actually be a tribute to those who lost their lives.

"It's significant that 100 years later we should be mature enough to pay tribute to those people," he said.

"If I'm dead in 100 years time and someone wants to spend some money commemorating my life and the things I've done I'll be very happy about that."

Mr Palmer insisted many descendants of those involved with the original Titanic had expressed interest in travelling in the same cabins their relatives had stayed in.

Titanic II is due in 2016 to retrace the original ship's planned route.

When it reaches the point where the Titanic sank "it'll be very symbolic for the world", Mr Palmer said.

In a "metaphysical" sense the replica would be carrying the hopes and dreams of generations who left Europe to find a better life in the United States.

To those suggesting the whole endeavour is a hoax to generate publicity the Queenslander declared: "It's bulls***."

"We're building four (iron ore) ships now bigger than the Titanic at the shipyard.

"I'm not somebody with no money."

British Titanic Society president Bob Pryor says the people of Southampton don't believe anyone should "play around" with the name Titanic.

"The idea of sailing a replica into Southampton - down there they are absolutely horrified by the idea," Mr Pryor told AAP.

Locals are afraid there'll be an inappropriate "song and dance" when Titanic II reaches the point where the original sank.

"Mr Palmer has got to prove them wrong," Mr Pryor said.

The society president is himself excited to see a replica being built.

But the man who's made many Titanic models, including one that's 12-foot long, is sad to hear Titanic II won't have fake rivets on her hull.

"It's going to look very bare without them," Mr Pryor said.

"They are almost like a signature of the ship."

Mr Palmer on Saturday announced replica rivets weren't needed.

"We want the best technology - we don't want to appear that we've got the worst technology," he said.

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