Pyne says Howes welcome in Canberra

Federal minister Christopher Pyne (PIC) has singled out Paul Howes for his policy ideas. Source: AAP

FEDERAL minister Christopher Pyne has singled out Paul Howes for his policy ideas, saying he would be welcome in the nation's parliament.

The high-profile national secretary of the Australian Workers' Union is believed to be preparing to set to step down in favour of a career in the private sector.

But there's still speculation he may eventually run as a Labor candidate for federal parliament.

"He certainly has a lot more ideas about the future of Australia and what needs to be done about policy than the current crop of people who represent the Labor Party in Canberra," Mr Pyne told reporters.

"He would be very welcome here, but that is a matter for the Labor Party.

"At least he recognises that you can't simply hold on to policies that failed in the past and ignore the election result as Bill Shorten and his team do."

Labor MP Amanda Rishworth said Mr Howes had made a great contribution to the labour movement.

"If he does choose a new career path, I wish him all the best. Whatever Paul goes into he will make a significant contribution," she said.

Liberal MP Steve Ciobo said Mr Howes clearly had huge ambitions for federal Labor.

"I get the impression that Paul Howes is off trekking for 40 days and 40 nights in the wilderness hoping to get some enlightenment because he has lost confidence in the leadership of the Labor Party, and frankly who could blame him," he told Sky.

Labor MP Rob Mitchell said Australia needed people like Paul Howes - young and intelligent.

"Whatever he goes and does, if he decided to leave the AWU, I am sure he will be extremely good at," he told reporters.

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SA premier to work with PM, despite fight

SA Premier Jay Weatherill has dismissed a war of words with the PM as election campaign "nonsense". Source: AAP

SOUTH Australian Premier Jay Weatherill has promised a "mature" working relationship with Canberra, saying his election stoush with Tony Abbott was part of the usual campaign nonsense.

Mr Weatherill on Sunday secured the support of independent MP Geoff Brock to form a minority government, giving Labor a fourth term in power.

The prime minister visited South Australia a number of times during the election to support Liberal leader Steven Marshall and became involved in a war of words with the premier.

Mr Abbott faced particular criticism for not inviting the Labor leader to one campaign announcement, that the state would be the base for a squadron of high-tech surveillance aircraft.

But Mr Weatherill on Monday downplayed the stand-off.

"There's always some nonsense before elections as parties line up with their fraternal parties," he told ABC radio.

"Now, we're over all that, we can get back to some serious discussions."

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NSW urged to get flu-ready

PREGNANT women and the elderly are being urged to prepare for winter and get a flu shot following an "unusually high" level of influenza in NSW this summer.

The Director of Health Protection NSW, Dr Jeremy McAnulty, said the northern hemisphere had experienced widespread influenza over the past months, with influenza A(H1N1) pandemic strain, A(H3N2) and influenza B circulating to different extents in different countries.

An unusually high level of influenza had also been seen in NSW over summer, he said.

He and other health professionals are now urging people, especially the elderly and pregnant women, to prepare for winter.

"The Australian flu vaccine has been updated to more closely match the influenza strains likely to circulate in NSW this year.

"So get a shot in preparation for this season," Dr McAnulty said on Sunday.

He said the seasonal flu shot continues to be the best defence for pregnant women and has the added advantage of protecting babies during their first six months when they are too young to have the vaccine.

NSW Health Minister Jillian Skinner said the government's Be Winter Wise campaign, launched on Sunday, was focusing on pregnant women, the elderly and people with chronic medical conditions.

"Although we are still experiencing warm weather, people should not be complacent when it comes to the dangers of the flu," she said in a statement.

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One-punch killers to face life in Qld

One-punch killers will face life imprisonment under proposed changes to Queensland laws. Source: AAP

ONE-PUNCH killers would face life imprisonment under proposed changes to Queensland laws.

The Newman government's draft plan to tackle alcohol-related and drug-related violence, released on Sunday, would create an offence - unlawful striking causing death - to deal with one-punch killers.

If convicted, defendants would be required to serve at least 80 per cent of their life sentence behind bars before being eligible for parole.

"We have all seen the devastating and often tragic effects of coward punches not just in our state but across the nation," Premier Campbell Newman said in a statement.

"The Queensland government is determined to counter this dangerous trend and make Queensland the safest place in Australia for people to go out and enjoy themselves."

Under the plan, the maximum penalty for aggravated serious assaults on ambulance officers would rise from seven to 14 years' imprisonment.

Drunkenness would no longer be a viable excuse to mitigate an offender's sentence and courts would have the power to ban people from licensed premises for life.

ID would be installed in all licensed venues trading after midnight to keep out problem patrons and banned people.

The government would also set up 15 "safe night precincts" across the state where there would be late-night lockouts and more police on the beat.

Police would be given the power to detain people for their own safety if they were unduly intoxicated and at risk of serious harm, or behaving in a potentially violent or antisocial manner.

The government would also introduce a compulsory drinking awareness plan for all students between years 7-12 as part of the school curriculum.

The public has been asked to comment on the draft policy before April 21.

The opposition called on the Newman government to introduce a blanket 1am lockout across the state.

"If you don't tackle trading hours you don't tackle alcohol-fuelled violence. It's that simple," Opposition Leader Annastacia Palaszczuk said in a statement.

"Unfortunately we have a premier too scared to act and showing no leadership."

Opposition police spokesman Bill Byrne questioned whether the government had failed to introduce a lockout because it was beholden to vested interests.

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Fire at Vic car firm

A FIRE has destroyed a number of imported cars in Melbourne.

The blaze at a high-performance car importer in Clayton South burned four modified Nissans, but two large 'Mr T-style' vans got away with just some smoke damage.

The fire at Auto Project caused $500,000 damage on Sunday, with fire investigators unable to immediately determine the cause.

Firefighters got the Fairbank Rd fire under control within 30 minutes.

A large quantity of oils and lubricants helped fuel the blaze but firefighters managed to stop the flames reaching a bank of acetylene cylinders.

Mr T's character B.A. Baracus drove a large, black GMC van in the 1980s tv series 'The A-Team'.

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Reasonable chance of finding plane: RAAF

Three planes have left Perth to continue the search for a missing Malaysia Airlines plane. Source: AAP

THERE is a reasonable chance of finding something in the Indian Ocean in the search for the missing Malaysian Airline plane MH370, Royal Australian Air Force group captain Craig Heap says.

Acting Prime Minister Warren Truss said from Perth's north on Saturday afternoon the Australian search effort had so far covered some 500,000 square kilometres.

There had been no finds of note since some large debris was defined last week, he told a large international media contingent at the RAAF Pearce air base.

Mr Truss said there had already been 15 sorties from the base, mainly Australian and New Zealand Orion aircraft.

US and civilian aircraft are also involved, and will be joined by two Chinese aircraft that arrive in Perth on Saturday afternoon to begin searching on Sunday.

Japanese aircraft will take part on Monday, and several vessels from around the world are en route to Western Australia to assist.

HMAS Success is also expected to reach the search area later on Saturday.

"This search is an intensive operation," Mr Truss said.

"While these aircraft are equipped with very advanced technology, much of this search is actually visual."

Mr Truss said the search for debris would keep going as long as there was hope.

"It is important from the perspective of those who have families, whose whereabouts are unknown ... and indeed for the future of the aviation industry, that we do whatever we can to firstly confirm whether or not the sightings as a result of the satellite imagery are indeed connected in any way with the Malaysia Airlines flight," he said.

"And then if so, what can be recovered so we can learn more about what has happened on this flight and learn any lessons that are necessary to make sure this doesn't happen again."

He said the debris was the most promising lead so far and he was confident it could be found.

"There's a reasonable chance of finding something," Capt Heap said.

Capt Heap said no aircraft or vessels had been sent from Malaysia to help with the Indian Ocean search, but it had sent military personnel to Pearce to act as liaison officers.

"They have other search areas where they are concentrating their efforts, in their own waters and nearby," Mr Truss said.

He said contact was being made with Malaysian authorities every few hours.

Mr Truss said two longer-range aircraft being deployed this weekend had intercontinental capability and would be able to comb the search area for five hours at a time, compared to the 2-3 hours that military aircraft had been able to achieve over the past two days.

The search area had been adjusted to account for drift, he said.

Weather conditions were much improved and would be for the foreseeable future.

"If there's something there to be found, I'm confident that this search effort will locate it," Mr Truss said.

And Australian authorities would do its utmost to keep the public informed.

"These families .... they're anxious for information," Mr Truss said.

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Rinehart wins cash for her own mine

Gina Rinehart has secured final funding for her massive Roy Hill iron ore mine in West Australia. Source: AAP

GINA Rinehart is set to become the world's fifth-largest iron ore exporter after securing $US7.2 billion ($A7.98 billion) in South Korean and Japanese-dominated debt funding.

Australia's richest person has defied negative publicity about falling prices, a looming oversupply of iron ore and China's slowing growth to win support from a global consortium of lenders for her $US10 billion project.

Ms Rinehart is now likely to realise a family lifelong dream to build a mine and operate it in the Pilbara.

The bulk of her current near $20 billion in wealth is attributable to her share of profits at the Rio Tinto-operated Hope Downs mine.

Her father, Lang Hancock, discovered the world's largest iron ore deposit in Western Australia's Pilbara more than 60 years ago.

Ms Rinehart's company, Hancock Prospecting, is aiming to ship 55 million tonnes a year and begin in September next year.

Only four miners ship more: fellow Pilbara producers Rio Tinto, BHP Billiton and Fortescue Metals and Brazil's Vale.

The company described the funding package as the largest for a land mining project in the world.

There were currently 2,500 people working on building the Roy Hill project, which would rise to 3,600 later this year with 2000 permanent staff to be employed at the operating mine, Ms Rinehart said in a statement.

Many commodity analysts are warning of slowdowns in the iron ore market as China moves away from steel intensive urbanisation to consumption.

Morningstar analyst Mark Taylor said the 70 per cent-plus debt component of the projects costs were at the upper limits of mining projects.

"It is interesting that the banks are all pretty keen on funding iron ore and mining," he told AAP.

Roy Hill is at risk of cost blowouts and delays in finalising the funding announced on Thursday night mean it is behind its original schedules to have started production by last year.

However senior resources analyst Gavin Wendt, a director of MineLife, said he thought the funding deal was a triumph for Ms Rinehart.

"Good on her ... It is an important project, Roy Hill, as you don't typically find high quality premium iron ore projects in many parts of the world and not low political risk destinations like Australia," he told AAP.

The backing of the banks and export credit agencies indicated they were confident the mine's margins, costs and ore quality were strong enough to handle price falls, Mr Wendt said.

Japan's Marubeni and South Korea's POSCO are major shareholders and export credit agencies and banks from those countries will supply much of the funding.

Mr Wendt pointed out that Japan and South Korea's more-developed economies produced a higher quality steel than China and demanded high quality Pilbara products but China would increasingly do so in the future.

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Stocks to watch at close on Friday

STOCKS to watch on the Australian stock exchange at the close on Friday:

COH - COCHLEAR - up $2.38, or 4.2 per cent, at $58.96

Shares in hearing implant maker Cochlear have jumped after US authorities approved the company's latest hearing aid.

IIN - IINET LTD - up seven cents, or 0.92 per cent, at $7.67

The founder of internet service provider iiNet, Michael Malone has resigned after more than 20 years with the company.

MTS - METCASH - down 30 cents, or 9.5 per cent, at $2.85

Shares in Grocery wholesaler Metcash have slumped almost 11 per cent after the company downgraded its earnings guidance and announced a $480 million overhaul of its business.

QAN - QANTAS AIRWAYS - down 0.5 cents, or 0.47 per cent, at $1.07

Qantas' lawyers have launched a detailed rebuttal of claims by aircraft engineers that maintenance done outside of Australia is unsafe.

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NDIS Agency like half-finished plane

THE federal government has been told the timetable for rolling out the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) needs to be reassessed.

An independent review of the NDIS agency warns that including 300,000 people in the landmark scheme from 2017-2018 is a massive task that would put pressures on the organisation and available workforce in the disability sector.

"A realistic reassessment of these plans should be done soon rather than later," the review's expert panel said.

The panel was also critical of the Gillard government's decision to rush the scheme into operation, a year ahead of the date recommended by the Productivity Commission.

As well the decision to move the agency's headquarters to Geelong from Canberra diverted valuable resources.

"The agency is like a plane that took off before it had been fully built and is being completed while it is in the air," the panel said in a report released by the government on Thursday.

It described as "very, very difficult" the agency's timetable to meet a challenging role, warning any pressure to move faster may compromise its ability to successfully roll out the scheme.

"The focus should be on quality not time," it said.

Assistant Social Services Minister Mitch Fifield said the review's findings were both inspiring and sobering.

"Inspiring, because several thousand Australians with disability are now getting the better deal they deserve," he said in a statement.

Senator Fifield praised the "herculean" effort of agency staff in rolling out the scheme to trial states since July 2013.

The sobering aspect related to the impact the rushed start had on the agency's key capabilities to deliver a full roll-out of the scheme.

The review is likely to provide the government with ammunition to revise the roll-out timetable, a move previously flagged by Senator Fifield.

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Banks' lending costs have fallen

The RBA says lending costs for banks fell slightly more than the cash rate in 2013. Source: AAP

THE Reserve Bank of Australia says lending costs for banks fell slightly more than the cash rate in 2013, which is good news for borrowers.

"The cost of deposits fell, while the cost of outstanding wholesale debt also declined, particularly in the latter part of the year," the RBA said in its quarterly bulletin, published on Thursday.

"Relative to the cash rate, the major banks' funding costs are estimated to have declined by about 11 basis points over the year."

A move away from funding loans from term deposits to cheaper forms of bank deposits helped reduce costs, the RBA said.

Term deposits remain a significant source of funds for loans, but savers have begun to favour other accounts, such as bonus saver accounts.

The RBA said these types of accounts are a relatively stable source of funding for the banks because there are limitations on withdrawals and also have minimum monthly deposits.

"The fall in the overall cost of deposits was in sharp contrast to the years immediately following the global financial crisis, where deposit market developments were often a key driver of the increase in banks funding costs," the RBA said.

Because of the lower costs, commercial banks have been able to reduce their lending rates.

"The average interest rate on new variable-rate housing loans fell by about 10 basis points relative to the cash rate as discounts were increased," the RBA said.

"Moreover, the average interest rate on some new fixed-rate housing loans relative to expectations of the cash rate also fell over 2013."

The RBA noted that the trend in rising loan funding costs since the global financial crisis has now been reversed, but they remain 130 basis points higher than before the GFC.

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