Fund plan to protect NSW building workers

BUILDING companies will have to establish a trust fund to ensure subcontractors and workers are paid if the firm goes bust, under reforms announced by the NSW government.

New legislation will also force companies to make progress payments within 30 days of going under.

The changes are the government's response to an inquiry into the construction industry after a string of high-profile firms collapsed leaving suppliers and subcontractors more than $1 billion out of pocket.

Building company Kell and Rigby collapsed in February last year leaving 500 workers out of job.

The collapse was followed by revelations that Reed Construction was unable to pay millions of dollars to more than 50 subcontractors.

St Hilliers Ararat also went into voluntary administration two months later.

The inquiry, led by Bruce Collins QC, made 44 recommendations.

NSW Finance Minister Greg Pearce says some of the recommendations will be adopted immediately, including establishing a cash retention scheme to protect payments to subcontractors if a construction company collapses.

Legislation will also be changed to improve payment practices in the building industry, such as giving authorities power to prosecute over breaches.

"These reforms are aimed at providing better protections for builders, subcontractors and suppliers working in the industry," Mr Pearce said on Thursday.

The state government will trial a system of directly paying subcontractors working under government construction contracts.

An advisory group will also be set up to advise on the reforms.

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Dead man found as renters check WA unit

A DEAD man has been discovered in a West Perth unit by prospective tenants inspecting the property.

A police spokeswoman says the man's death is not suspicious.

The real estate agent didn't check the unit before letting people in on Monday.

Real Estate Institute of Western Australia president David Airey says lessons will be learnt from the incident.

"I'll be saying to some of my staff this morning, and certainly agents hearing this will be saying, 'Make sure you check, you've got to speak personally (with the home owner), go inside first'," Mr Airey told Fairfax radio on Thursday.

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Floods will cost Queensland $2.5 billion

THE damage bill from this year's floods in Queensland will be more than $2.5 billion, Queensland Treasurer Tim Nicholls says.

More than half the payments have been to councils to fix infrastructure, costing in excess of $1.3 billion.

Repairs to state controlled roads will cost $900 million.

Mr Nicholls says the repair bill is half a billion dollars higher than the 2012 floods but about $4.5 billion less than the 2010/11 disasters.

One of the challenges facing the state is how it will pay for the recovery.

"How we rebuild and where we get the funds from to rebuild are important considerations as we move towards the coming state budget," he told parliament on Wednesday.

"We need to be sure that what we rebuild is better than what we lost, and will withstand future weather events."

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North Korea rejects negotiations with US

NORTH Korea will not be returning to the negotiating table with the United States, media reports say.

Pyongyang said while it was not opposed to a dialogue, it will not sit down at a "humiliating negotiating table with the party brandishing a nuclear stick," according to a statement by North Korea's Foreign Ministry on Wednesday.

The insistence by the US that the North demonstrate its "will for denuclearisation" before any negotiation was "a very impudent hostile act," said the statement carried by the Korean Central News Agency.

US Secretary of State John Kerry urged North Korea last week to take "meaningful steps" toward denuclearisation and allow the resumption of six-party talks involving the Koreas, Japan, the US, Russia and China.

The talks, aimed at ending North Korea's nuclear program, stalled in 2009.

Meanwhile North Korea barred a delegation of South Korean businessmen from delivering food and supplies to 200 of their staff inside the closed Kaesong joint industrial zone.

Ten representatives of the 123 South Korean firms in Kaesong had applied for permission to visit the zone, two weeks after the North blocked all access amid soaring military tensions on the Korean peninsula.

"Moments ago, North Korea informed us that the request for a visit by 10 representatives of the business companies at Kaesong had been turned down," Unification Ministry spokesman Kim Hyung-Seok said.

"It is very regrettable that the North has rejected the request and disallowed a humanitarian measure," Kim said.

Kaesong, which lies 10km inside North Korea, was established in 2004 as a shining symbol of inter-Korean co-operation.

Of the nearly 900 South Koreans who were in the zone when the North first cut off access on April 3, around 200 have opted not to leave in an effort to keep their companies running.

But the North's action has left them without supplies of daily necessities, as well as raw materials.

"We again strongly urge the North Korean authorities to take responsible measures for meeting the most basic needs of the staff at Kaesong," Kim said.

The North withdrew all its 53,000 workers and suspended operations in Kaesong on April 8.

Seoul's offers of dialogue to resolve the situation have been dismissed by the North as a "crafty trick".

On Tuesday, North Korea said the South was seeking to shift responsibility for Kaesong's closure, which Pyongyang insists was forced by Seoul's policy of "confrontation" and its "war-mongering" statements.

"The puppet regime can never escape from the criminal responsibility for putting Kaesong in this grave situation", the North's state body in charge of special economic zones said in a statement.

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Melbourne has 'special empathy' for Boston

The attacks in Boston are felt in Melbourne, the city's sister city, Lord Mayor Robert Doyle says. Source: AAP

MELBURNIANS will feel a special empathy for Boston as their sister city suffers after fatal bomb blasts, Lord Mayor Robert Doyle says.

The US city was rocked when two explosions tore through the finish line of the Boston Marathon, killing three people and injuring more than 100.

Mr Doyle said he had sent a brief message of condolence to his Boston counterpart, Tom Menino, and to the US consulate.

Melbourne and Boston shared much in common, with both acting as tertiary education centres and having similar cultural interests, Mr Doyle said.

"I think as a sister city, we do have a special empathy with Boston," he told reporters in Melbourne on Tuesday.

"It is something that hits home pretty hard when you see a city like our being attacked in this way."

Mr Doyle said there was no reason for people to feel anxious about large-scale public events in Melbourne.

"What we must do is to continue the life of our city," he said.

"Anything else, I think, would be a compromise."

He said organisers of the Melbourne Marathon, which will be held in October, had made extensive safety and security preparations.

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Book made Schapelle's mum sick: court

Schapelle Corby's family are suing publisher Allen & Unwin over the 2011 book Sins of the Father. Source: AAP

THE mother of Schapelle Corby says it was a long time before she could pick up a book telling the "untold story" of her daughter's alleged drug run - and when she did, it made her sick.

The Corby family are suing publisher Allen & Unwin over the 2011 book titled Sins of the Father.

The family claim five photographs used in the book, including a shot of Corby with friends at Brisbane airport and of her as a child on Santa's knee, were used without the family's permission in breach of copyright.

Corby's mother Rosleigh Rose told the Federal Court in Sydney on Tuesday the Santa photo was taken by her at a David Jones store because she couldn't afford a professional picture.

"I didn't have $5, $6, $7 spare to spend on a photo," she said.

"I just sent the children up there and took the photo."

The book details allegations that Corby's father, Michael Corby, was behind the attempt to smuggle marijuana into Bali in his daughter's bodyboard bag.

Ms Rose said she couldn't get herself to read or look at the book for a long time after it came out.

"When I read the book I said it's disgusting, it's making me sick."

She then called her other daughter Mercedes Corby who contacted lawyers, Ms Rose said.

Ms Rose said she still had no idea how to "control the media" since her daughter's arrest eight years ago.

She said when she first gave out the photo of her daughter with friends at Brisbane airport she hoped it would be used "in a positive way".

However, the photo of the convicted drug smuggler started being used alongside negative news articles.

"We had no way of knowing how to control the media and we still don't. I don't," Ms Rose said.

Mercedes Corby, who survived a mugging attempt in Bali last month, was present in court and pointed out different photos in the book to her lawyer as her mother gave evidence.

Allen & Unwin says all the pictures were given either to the book's author, Fairfax journalist Eamonn Duff, or to "the media in general" for publication.

Schapelle Corby was jailed for smuggling marijuana into Indonesia in 2004.

The hearing continues.

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Ex-sailor jailed for Darwin gun heist

A FORMER Australian navy sailor who overpowered a seaman and stole weapons from a patrol boat in Darwin will spend two and a half years in jail.

Matthew Evans, 26 was sentenced on Monday in the Darwin Supreme Court for the robbery and historic assault matters.

Justice Judith Kelly sentenced Evans to three and a half years' jail, to be suspended after 18 months, for the robbery and tying up a sailor.

For the assaults, committed outside Darwin nightspots in 2010, Evans was handed a four-year sentence, suspended after 12 months.

One incident had seen a man badly beaten and left unconscious on a road, but Evans was not prosecuted earlier because of difficulties reaching him while he served in the navy.

In the brazen robbery of his former ship, Justice Kelly said Evans had felt pressured by the Rebels bikie gang to steal the weapons.

Evans went aboard HMAS Bathurst on November 29 last year, and overpowered a duty sailor, threatening him with a knife and tying him up.

He stole guns worth about $8000, including pistols and pump-action shotguns, which he intended to pass on to Rebels members.

The victim, who first thought the assault was part of a training drill, finally freed himself after using a knife to stab his wrists.

Evans' sentence was reduced because he admitted his guilt and had agreed to testify against others involved in the robbery on HMAS Bathurst, Justice Kelly said.

She said Evans had excellent rehabilitation prospects and had agreed to help police despite knowing it may place him in danger.

Counsel for Evans, Jon Tippett, QC, told the court his client had been bashed in prison on Friday and was treated for a suspected broken nose and concussion.

Mr Tippett said Evans was now housed in the prison's punishment section for his own protection and was locked down for 23 hours each day.

"It is what he has to look forward to for years," Mr Tippett told the court.

The court was told Evans stole the weapons and passed them on to a drug dealer who was renting a home from Evans, because he felt pressured by the Rebels bikie gang.

Evans will face a five-year good behaviour bond upon his release from prison and must not consume alcohol or use drugs.

Evans' jail term will include time served since his arrest in December last year.

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Asylum seekers nominated for bravery award

THREE asylum seekers from Myanmar (Burma), who drowned while trying to paddle from their stricken boat to Christmas Island in a bid to save other passengers, have been posthumously nominated for an Australian Bravery Award.

A fourth person - the vessel's Indonesian captain - also took part in the mercy dash some eight weeks ago.

He made it to shore after a week at sea, but was immediately detained, the island's administrator Jon Stanhope said.

When the boat's engines stalled about 12 nautical miles from the island, the men were concerned about the welfare of the passengers including a pregnant woman, so they jumped overboard on a makeshift raft made of inflated tyres and bamboo, and tried to paddle to land.

The same day that they set out, the boat was found and its passengers were rescued.

Mr Stanhope, the former chief minister of the ACT, said he had nominated all four of the men for a bravery award, regardless of whether they were eligible.

He believed the men - whose names he was trying to find out - deserved to be honoured.

"They couldn't even see the island, but they knew which direction it was in ... and the Burmese probably couldn't swim," Mr Stanhope told AAP.

"I have heard anecdotally that there was a pregnant woman on board that they were particularly concerned about, and she needed assistance but the boat was drifting."

It took incredible courage to jump into the ocean with no land in sight, he said.

"I just cannot imagine the bravery inherent in that act.

"The attempt was genuinely designed to bring aid to those on board.

"Had it been anybody other than asylum seekers, there would have been an automatic response (to honour the men) and as it is, we don't even know their names."

Meanwhile, seven of the 66 Sri Lankan asylum seekers who sailed into the busy West Australian port of Geraldton last week after spending weeks at sea remain in Perth after being deemed unfit to travel.

An immigration department spokeswoman said the other 59 had been transferred to Christmas Island.

Detention facilities on Christmas Island are overcrowded, so some asylum seekers are being forced to live in tents.

Australian Lawyers Alliance national president Tony Kerin said the way these recent arrivals were being treated was distressing.

"These people have been through a huge ordeal just to reach our shores," Mr Kerin said.

"To then put these people on a plane for Christmas Island, which is already overcrowded, is only exacerbating their ordeal and is totally unnecessary.

"It is important that we as a nation don't forget our humanity."

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US police recover $US3200 swallowed ring

US police have recovered a $US3200 ($A3049) engagement ring a man allegedly swallowed during an attempted jewellery store theft.

Ronald Perley, 52, was charged with theft and falsifying physical evidence after X-rays showed the 14-karat white-gold ring with princess-cut diamonds inside him, authorities say.

WMUR-TV reports New Hampshire police had recovered the ring on Saturday.

Perley allegedly went into a shop on Thursday asking about engagement rings.

Workers said he grabbed a ring, then swallowed it after being confronted.

Police say surveillance footage shows Perley taking the ring and putting his hand to his mouth.

Perley was being held on $US50,000 bail.

It's not clear if he has a lawyer.

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Myanmar leader makes New Year unity plea

THE reformist president of Myanmar (Burma) has called for multi faith harmony in a televised address to mark the country's New Year celebrations, following recent anti-Muslim unrest that has scarred communities.

Thein Sein dedicated Sunday's speech to promoting religious unity as the country remains tense after a wave of rioting last month that left 43 dead, thousands displaced and left homes and mosques destroyed.

"Our society has overcome many difficulties and challenges together so we can emerge as a society in which multiple races and religions coexist harmoniously, while still preserving our own customs and traditions," he said in a speech.

The former general, whose reforms have garnered widespread praise, said the country's efforts at democratisation had been hampered by "black spots such as disunity, conflict and instability".

He urged Myanmar citizens to work together to build on the country's political changes with "patience, tolerance and persistence".

Three people including a gold shop owner were last week jailed for 14 years in connection with the religious riots that began in the town of Meiktila in central Myanmar on March 20.

Radical monks have been linked to the subsequent unrest, which observers said appeared to be well organised.

Rights groups have accused security forces of standing by while the attacks took place.

The situation has calmed since Thein Sein on March 28 vowed a tough response against those behind the violence, which follows Buddhist-Muslim clashes in the western state of Rakhine last year that left at least 180 people dead, mostly minority Muslim Rohingya.

Myanmar's New Year, known as the Thingyan, is a hugely popular mass celebration in which people throw water at each other to symbolise the washing away of the previous year's bad deeds.

Festivities, increasingly raucous as the country opens to the world, have been marred by bloodshed in the past, with a series of blasts in 2010 that left 10 people dead and about 170 wounded.

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