Kerry presses China over N Korea tensions

US Secretary of State John Kerry says North Korea's rhetoric is "unacceptable by any standards." Source: AAP

US Secretary of State John Kerry has met top officials of North Korea's key ally China to press them to rein in a defiant Pyongyang.

Kerry met first with China's foreign minister Wang Yi on Saturday after flying in from talks in South Korea with President Park Geun-Hye, where he offered public US support for her plans to initiate some trust-building with the North.

The Korean peninsula has been engulfed by escalating military tensions and dire threats of nuclear war ever since North Korea conducted a rocket test last December and a nuclear test in February.

"Obviously there are enormously challenging issues in front of us, and I look forward to having that conversation with you today," Kerry told Wang.

Wang agreed the visit came at a "critical moment".

China has backed North Korea since the 1950-53 Korean War and could wield tremendous leverage over the isolated communist regime thanks to the vital aid it provides, including almost all of its neighbour's energy imports.

But analysts say it is wary of pushing too hard for fear of destabilising North Korea, which could send a wave of hungry refugees flooding into China and ultimately lead to a reunified Korea allied with the United States.

China and the US have a sometimes strained relationship, with Beijing uneasy over Washington's 'rebalancing' towards Asia, and Kerry's first visit to the region since becoming America's top diplomat has been completely overshadowed by the Korean crisis.

Washington is seeking to persuade Beijing to help rein in the bellicose threats from North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un, and bring Pyongyang back to the negotiating table over its suspect nuclear program.

"I think it's clear to everybody in the world that no country in the world has as close a relationship or as significant an impact on the DPRK (North Korea) than China," Kerry said in Seoul after meeting South Korean leaders.

China is estimated to provide as much as 90 per cent of its neighbour's energy imports, 80 per cent of its consumer goods and 45 per cent of its food, according to the US-based Council on Foreign Relations.

Despite intelligence reports that the North has prepared what would be a highly-provocative, medium-range missile launch, Park has in recent days made some conciliatory gestures to the regime in Pyongyang.

Kerry was to meet China's new President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang later on Saturday.

Without naming any countries, Xi said recently that "no one should be allowed to throw a region and even the whole world into chaos for selfish gains".

After China, Kerry heads to Japan which is also deeply involved in the North Korea issue and which deployed Patriot missiles around Tokyo this week as anticipation of a missile launch by the North's mounted.

Kerry said he hoped China, Japan and the United States would be able to find the "unity" required to offer a "very different set of alternatives for how we can proceed and ultimately how we can defuse this situation".

Meanwhile, Philippines Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario said the US would be allowed to station forces at military bases in the Philippines if it went to war with North Korea.

"Our mutual defence treaty calls for joint action if either the Philippines or the United States is attacked," del Rosario said.

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Sydney worksite where man died had issues

A UNION raised concerns over a Sydney work site two weeks before a young worker died.

The Construction Forestry Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU) said work had stopped on the site where a 22-year-old man was killed on Saturday.

The Canadian backpacker suffered head and chest injuries after being hit by a number of metal beams during the demolition of a building in Australia Street in Camperdown.

CFMEU state secretary Brian Parker said union organiser Tony Sloane had stopped work on the site around Easter after concerns were raised about how the demolition work was being carried out.

"While the full circumstances of the death are still not known, we fear there have been shortcuts taken to demolish the building faster," Mr Parker said.

"If that is the case and this young Canadian has lost his life to help boost some builder's bottom line then it just magnifies the tragedy.

"What was meant to be the trip of a lifetime has instead cost this young man his life.

"We will do all we can to ensure the truth of what happened today is exposed."

Mr Parker said more deaths were likely as WorkCover was sacking inspectors and closing branches across Sydney and regional NSW.

WorkCover is investigating and police will prepare a report for the coroner.

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Sydney poultry worker 'tortured birds'

A SYDNEY poultry worker has been caught on camera punching, kicking and stomping on birds destined for slaughter.

It's also alleged several live birds had their limbs cut off at the Tahmoor turkey processing plant in southwest Sydney, police say.

Police examined footage provided by an animal rights group and charged a 25-year-old man on Saturday.

He was charged with three counts of torture, beating and causing prolonged suffering to an animal.

He was bailed to appear in Picton Local Court on Tuesday May 28.

Police say further arrests and charges have not been ruled out.

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Egypt's Mubarak arrives at court

FORMER Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak has arrived at a Cairo court to face a new trial, after an appeal against the life sentence handed down against him was accepted.

Television footage on Saturday showed Mubarak, dressed in white and wearing sunglasses, wheeled out of an ambulance on a stretcher and taken into Cairo's Police Academy where the trial is being held.

He had been transported first by helicopter from the Cairo military hospital where he is being treated, the official MENA news agency said.

His two sons, Gamal and Alaa, and his former security chief Habib al-Adly, have also made their way to the court for the retrial, MENA said.

A handful of Mubarak supporters stood outside the court house, holding posters of their former leader, but they were outnumbered by security officers.

The fate of the ousted strongman has been largely eclipsed by deadly turmoil and economic woes gripping Egypt.

His original trial in August 2011 was a major moment for both Egypt and the region, being the first time an Arab leader deposed by his people had appeared in court in person.

Mubarak, Adly and six security chiefs are in the dock again over their alleged complicity in the murder and attempted murder of hundreds of peaceful protesters on January 25-31, 2011.

Gamal and Alaa Mubarak - once symbols of Egyptian power and wealth - are also being retried on corruption charges. Another defendant, business tycoon Hussein Salem, is being tried in absentia.

AF

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US chides North Korea, downplays threat

South Korea has cast doubt on a leaked US report that North Korea is nuclear armed. Source: AAP

THE United States has berated North Korea's belligerence and pressed China to rein in its ally, as US officials downplayed a spy agency report that Pyongyang has a nuclear-armed missile.

The alarming assessment of the North's potential to unleash havoc came just prior to US Secretary of State John Kerry's arrival in Seoul on Friday, as regional tensions mounted over an expected missile launch by Pyongyang.

A senior official travelling with Kerry again pressed China to encourage its wayward ally North Korea to stop its destabilising nuclear activities and threats to the region.

The North's December rocket launch and February nuclear test, and its fury over subsequent UN sanctions, are at the core of a crisis that has seen Pyongyang threaten nuclear strikes against the United States and South Korea.

Kerry was to be briefed first-hand on the tensions from top US military commanders on the ground, ahead of meetings with new South Korean President Park Geun-hye and Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se.

President Barack Obama said "nobody wants to see a conflict" but emphasised that the United States was ready to take "all necessary steps to protect its people" and defend its allies in the region.

"We both agree that now is the time for North Korea to end the kind of belligerent approach that they've been taking," Obama said after White House talks with UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.

"It's important for North Korea, like every other country in the world, to observe basic rules and norms."

The top US official travelling with Kerry, who will also visit Beijing and Tokyo during his trip to Asia, said China had a key role to play in the crisis.

"China has a huge stake in stability, and the continued North Korean pursuit of a nuclear-armed missile capability is the enemy of stability," the official said.

In Washington, Congressman Doug Lamborn, reading from an unclassified portion of a Defense Intelligence Agency report, said Pyongyang could be capable of launching a nuclear warhead, albeit an unpredictable one.

"DIA assesses with moderate confidence the North currently has nuclear weapons capable of delivery by ballistic missiles," said the report, according to the Republican lawmaker.

"However, the reliability will be low."

But the Pentagon and the director of national intelligence quickly threw cold water on the assessment.

Pentagon spokesman George Little said it would be "inaccurate" to suggest North Korea had demonstrated the capabilities referenced by Lamborn - a remark echoed by Director of National Intelligence James Clapper.

The leaked intelligence marked the first time the US government has suggested North Korea may have succeeded in miniaturising a nuclear device - a potentially game-changing scenario for the strategic balance in East Asia.

South Korea was sceptical, with Defence Ministry spokesman Kim Min-seok saying it was "still doubtful" that the North had produced a warhead small enough to fit on a missile.

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Woman in boot never did wrong: neighbour

THE death of a woman found in the boot of a car in bushland south of Sydney was "absolutely horrific", police say.

The body of the 41-year-old, named in media reports as Linda Stevens, was discovered by police in the boot of her Kia sedan in bushland at Corrimal, near Wollongong, on Thursday evening.

Police had originally been responding to reports of a car driving erratically in the area about 2.45pm that day.

Officers found the car in bushland on Thursday afternoon but couldn't locate its female owner.

After looking for the owner at a home on Bligh Street in Wollongong the officers returned to the vehicle and made the gruesome discovery.

Detective Inspector Tim Beattie did not provide details about the woman's injuries but said the death was horrific.

"It's horrific, absolutely horrific for all involved," Mr Beattie told reporters outside Wollongong police station on Friday.

He said police were treating the death as a homicide, and crime scenes had been set up at bushland near Foothills Road and at a residence at Bligh Street.

He said the dead woman was known to police but he would not comment on whether the death was thought to be drug related or if the woman was dead when she was placed in the boot.

A neighbour who had known Ms Stevens for more than three years told Fairfax Media she was a "lovely" woman.

"She's a lovely person, never done anything wrong, she was always quiet, just dropped off her little boy to school and picked him up," Melissa Cruickshank said.

There was no reason for officers initially to look in the car boot because they were responding to a "low-level" driving complaint, Det Insp Beattie said.

He said the woman left behind a family member who lived in a Bligh Street unit block.

He appealed for anyone who may have seen a white Kia Rio sedan driving erratically in the northern suburbs of Wollongong on Thursday to contact police.

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Talks continue to end Vic teachers dispute

TALKS to resolve Victoria's long-running teachers dispute will continue as students return to school next week.

The teachers' union and state government had agreed to hold intensive negotiations during the school holidays over the last two weeks in a bid to reach a deal before Monday.

Progress had been made but negotiations would continue into next week, a statement from the Australian Education Union said on Friday.

The union has suspended all industrial action while negotiations are ongoing.

Several statewide strikes have been held during the dispute, which has dogged the state government for the past two years.

After first lodging its pay claim in late 2010, the AEU changed its position in November 2012 from a 30 per cent increase over three years to a 12.6 per cent boost.

Premier Denis Napthine last month backed down on performance pay demands, but the government hasn't shifted from its public wages policy position of 2.5 per cent plus extra for productivity gains.

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Hoyts complies to fix rodent problem

THE infamous "Hoyts Mouse" may have made a squeaky clean getaway, with health inspectors declaring that a rodent-infested Perth cinema is complying with council regulations to control the pest.

Hoyts has been flooded with complaints about vermin after a patron photographed a mouse eating her food and said her granddaughter had fought off two of the critters at the Carousel La Premiere cinema at Easter.

Health inspectors last week ordered private pest control contractors to go to war on the mice.

Environmental health officers have inspected the complex and concluded regulations had been met including addressing the storage of old equipment and blocking small holes in walls around service pipes.

However, a city spokesman refused to comment on Friday whether the rodents had been entirely eradicated.

A Twitter account called 'Hoyts Mouse' has attracted nearly 400 followers.

Late on Thursday, it announced: "Rumours of my impending demise have been greatly exaggerated. I shall not yield!"

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PM to initiate repeal of PNG's sorcery act

PAPUA New Guinea Prime Minister Peter O'Neill says it will take time before legislation to repeal the nation's controversial sorcery act is brought before parliament.

Mr O'Neill said while he hoped to have the law dismantled during the current session of parliament, it will likely take longer.

"We're starting to work at it," he said in response to a question in Port Moresby on Thursday.

"We have quite a lot of issues on the table, so please give us a chance to work on it.

"Hopefully this session of parliament, but I cannot guarantee it. Realistically, a few sessions away, we will be able to put an act to parliament to stop this nonsense about witchcraft and all the other sorceries that are really barbaric in itself."

PNG has come under increased international pressure to repeal the act, which critics say is being used as a defence by people accused of killing alleged sorcerers.

Last week in Bougainville, former primary school teacher Helen Rumbali was decapitated by a mob in the autonomous region's south after they accused her of using witchcraft to murder a colleague.

Police say two other women were stabbed and a third suffered a severe wound to her neck during a violent three-day "interrogation" by their accusers.

Police were powerless to save the women.

In another widely reported incident earlier this year, 20-year-old mother of one Kepari Leniata was tortured, stripped and burned alive by a crowd on the outskirts of the Western Highlands capital Mt Hagen.

Amnesty international, the US embassy and the Australian high commission in Port Moresby strongly condemned Ms Leniata's murder.

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Katter candidates planned for all WA seats

KATTER'S Australian Party plans to have candidates in all 15 of Western Australia's federal seats.

Maverick independent MP Bob Katter is currently in Perth to talk with potential candidates and advise the public that "the eagle has landed" in the state.

"There are 15 seats in Western Australia and we intend to have candidates in every seat," he told reporters on Thursday.

"In Queensland, we ended up with 75 to 80 per cent of the seats covered by candidates.

"So if it's ambitious, it's not greatly ambitious.

"We found on the Queensland experience that people come forward and good people at that."

The party is said to be gaining traction among voters, with some commentators predicting it might win several Senate seats at the September 14 election.

One of its key issues is protecting the agricultural sector from the supermarket duopoly of Woolworths and Coles.

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Oliver Stone visits Assange at embassy

OSCAR-WINNING director Oliver Stone has given a boost to WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange by visiting him at the Ecuadorian embassy in London.

The Born on the Fourth of July filmmaker met with the controversial whistleblower on April 4 and later took to Twitter to detail their "hopeful talk".

Stone tweeted, "(It was also) a sad occasion in that Julian could not follow me out the door. He lives in a tiny room with great modesty and discipline. (He has a) strong mind, no sun, friends who visit, work to be done."

Assange has been living in Ecuador's embassy in the UK capital since June as he battles extradition to Sweden, where he is wanted over allegations he sexually assaulted two women.

Stone also blasted a string of upcoming films about Assange, including The Fifth Estate, which will star Benedict Cumberbatch as the Australian, as well as Alex Gibney's documentary, We Steal Secrets.

"One documentary coming out from Alex Gibney that is not expected to be kind," he tweeted.

"Another film from Dreamworks which is also going to be unfriendly... I don't think most people in the US realise how important Wikileaks is and why Julian's case needs support. Julian Assange did much for free speech and is now being victimised by the abusers of that concept."

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Army's Afghan trade school to close

AUSTRALIA'S long-running trade training school in Afghanistan, which has tried to steer youth away from joining the Taliban insurgency, has wound up.

The closure of the school, which taught 900 teenagers basic construction skills over the past seven years, comes as the Australian Defence Force's mission in the war-torn country winds down.

The school, within the main Australian base at Tarin Kowt in Oruzgan, closed last month and trade training school supervisor Kelvin Baulch hoped it had opened new doors for its students.

"That's hopefully the way of the future," Mr Baulch told AAP on Thursday.

"There's better things in life than putting bombs in the road."

In each 124-day course, students learned basic joinery and carpentry, concreting and block laying, painting and tiling and plumbing.

Graduates received a set of basic tools and could earn $20 a day - more than the $5 a day paid for unskilled labour on a building site.

The school, operated by military engineers, was opened by the Australian Reconstruction Task Force in 2006.

Its tools and equipment are being taken to a new facility in Tarin Kowt being built for the Afghan Ministry of Education.

The Australian-led Artillery Training and Advisory Team - which set up the Afghan National Army School of Artillery in Kabul - has also finished up after training more than 2300 gunners and instructors.

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Inquest told of son's 'gold digger' lover

A SYDNEY surgeon's mother who died in unusual circumstances thought her son's de facto partner was after his money, an inquest has heard.

The coronial inquest is investigating whether Dr Jerry Schwartz acted appropriately in signing the death certificates of his mother Eve Schwartz, 79, and her best friend Magda Wales, 76, who died three weeks apart in 2005.

The inquest has heard that Ms Schwartz's death certificate listed her cause of death as lung cancer and a collapsed lung, but made no mention of cuts to her wrists.

Glebe Coroner's Court has also heard that at the time of his mother's death Dr Schwartz had been in a "tumultuous" relationship with his de facto partner Liliane Viselle.

Ms Viselle has previously been described at the inquest as a "gold digger".

On Wednesday, the inquest heard that Mrs Schwartz told a friend, Nicholas Orsos, that she thought Ms Viselle was after her son's money.

"Did Eve express an attitude that Liliane was after Jerry's money?" counsel for Dr Schwartz asked Mr Orsos.

"Yes," Mr Orsos replied.

Earlier, the inquest heard from Dr Konstantin Bosnic, an independent medical referee who has "audited" death certificates since the 1960s.

Dr Bosnic accepted signing documents related to Mrs Schwartz after she died, but told the inquest he couldn't remember the case.

However, he said it wasn't unusual for a doctor to sign the death certificate of a family member.

"I filled out the death certificate for my parents," the witness said.

He said most errors doctors made on death certificates involved forgetting to fill out certain details, such as how long after death they had seen the body.

If an injury like lacerated wrists was not noted on a death certificate he would have reported it for "further investigations", he said.

The inquest has previously heard that medical board guidelines advise against doctors performing such duties for family or friends.

Dr Schwartz, with his late parents, founded the Schwartz Family Company, which owns a dozen hotels in NSW and Victoria, a shopping centre, a medical centre and a brewery.

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First home buyers still priced out

HOUSING affordability remains a problem across Australia, with many first home buyers still priced out of the market despite recent interest rate cuts.

The finding was made in the latest snapshot of the local housing market by JP Morgan, which ranks Australia in second place behind Hong Kong for having the world's highest house prices.

The report's co-author Martin North says that despite the Reserve Bank of Australia's recent slashing of its cash rate, mortgage repayments remain high because the average loan is getting bigger and the major banks have not passed on the RBA's rate cuts in full.

As a result, potential home buyers in major capital cities were being put off from plunging into the property market.

"In some of the major markets, such as NSW and Western Australia, over half the people who want to buy can't because they can't afford to," he said.

While first home buyers were put off by high house prices, existing property owners looking to buy were wanting to downsize to smaller properties.

The report's fellow co-author Scott Manning said this was causing property prices to remain high as property owners looking to downsize generally did not want another mortgage and therefore would not sell at a lower price.

"We've got a generational shift which will take 20 or 30 years to play out," he said.

"These people have ridden the wave up but someone's got to buy off them."

Mr Manning said the housing market was operating differently across the country.

There was still very significant demand from both first home buyers and investors in Western Australia.

But in Queensland, Tasmania and South Australia existing home owners looking to downsize were driving demand.

Mr Martin said over the next few months he expected home owners who wanted to downsize but get a good price for their properties to drive demand in NSW and Victoria.

First home buyers in NSW and Victoria also expected to buy units, while in Queensland and Western Australia they were more likely to favour houses.

Mr Manning also believed it was likely that the major banks would maintain their current trend of not passing on the RBA's rate cuts in full for another two years.

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Home prices to rise with wages: economists

Economists say house prices will continue to rise but there will be no return to the boom times. Source: AAP

AUSTRALIA'S housing market is improving, just don't expect another boom.

Two of Australia's most prominent economists say they expect house prices to grow modestly in the forseeable future.

A return to boom times is unlikely but so is a significant fall in prices.

National Australia Bank group chief economist Alan Oster says the property market has recovered from its weak patch in 2012.

"Clearly the market is starting to improve and we would expect it to increase moderately as we go forward," he told the Bloomberg Australian Economic Summit.

Westpac chief economist Bill Evans says house prices will rise roughly in line with incomes.

"But we're not expecting it to improve to the point where people are becoming over leverage," he told the summit.

House prices rose 2.8 per cent across Australian capital cities during the first three months of 2013, according to property research company RP Data.

And both men say, despite ongoing concerns many would-be home-buyers are priced out of the market, housing is more affordable, relative to incomes, than it has been in years.

"In Sydney for instance affordability levels are the best they've been for 10 years," Mr Evans said.

"So relative to Australia's affordability measures in the past the current situation looks quite manageable."

Mr Oster said, compared to borrowing levels of the past few decades, many Australian households could afford to borrow more than they currently do in order to purchase a new house or investment property.

But he said they were reluctant to take on additional debt following the global financial crisis.

"Australian consumers can actually gear up quite a lot but I don't see them doing it, because fundamentally they are still scared," he said.

However, University of Western Sydney academic Professor Steve Keen warned the recent rise in house prices had come from investors and sustained growth in the sector was unlikely.

"All the turnaround since 2012 has been speculators getting into the market expecting prices rises," he told the summit.

Professor Keen said that, compared to other countries, Australian households were already highly indebted.

"That is what is going to put the cap on price appreciation continuing."

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European stocks climb at open

EUROPE'S main stock markets rose at the start of trading on Wednesday, with London's benchmark FTSE 100 index up 0.18 per cent at 6,324.35 points.

Elsewhere, Frankfurt's DAX 30 increased 0.35 per cent to 7,664.16 points and in Paris the CAC 40 won 0.41 per cent to 3,685.69.

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2GB remains Sydney radio king

SYDNEY'S music stations have suffered a major reversal in 2013 with WSFM taking the lead over the seemingly unassailable 2DayFM.

Southern Cross Austereo's (SCA) Sydney station lost listeners across all timeslots and suffered big drops in its key 18-24 age demographic.

WSFM stayed steady in the second survey of the year, according to figures supplied on Tuesday by Nielsen, with 8.5 per cent of the radio audience.

Talk station 2GB remains at the top of the ratings ladder and has regained some of the listeners it lost in the first survey of the year.

Alan Jones was responsible for some of the gains with his breakfast show and held on to his title as the king of Sydney's early morning radio with 15.7 per cent of listeners.

2DayFM's controversial Kyle & Jackie O breakfast show remains the most popular on music stations with 10.2 per cent of the audience.

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Victorian public service faces overhaul

A VICTORIAN public service shake-up has been sold as a sign the state is open for business but critics argue it may jeopardise the environment and lead to job cuts.

From July, one department will be responsible for both the environment and agriculture, while planning and transport will also merge.

Coal allocations, small business, aviation and major projects will all be run out of the new Department of State Development, Business and Innovation.

Premier Denis Napthine said no jobs would go under the changes.

"These changes are important changes for Victorians; they're about creating a new emphasis on jobs (and) investment opportunities for Victoria," he said.

"This is about me putting my leadership, my direction, on where the public sector should go to better deliver services in Victoria to make sure we get that strong message that Victoria is open for business."

He could not put a price tag on the restructure, which the Community and Public Sector Union warned would cost thousands.

"It's a scandalous waste of public money with thousands of workplaces across the state having to be re-badged while ministers and senior executives are protected," union Victorian secretary Karen Batt said.

Dr Napthine said merging the departments of environment and primary industries would deliver enormous benefits.

"This old-style debate between brown and green is a thing of the past," he said.

"I would have thought any sensible environmentalist would see this as a positive move."

Environment Victoria chief executive Kelly O'Shanassy said she agreed with Dr Napthine that it was possible to simultaneously grow jobs and protect the environment but that process had to be handled carefully.

"If it's done wrong, it's kind of like putting the fox in the hen house," she said.

Opposition frontbencher Jacinta Allan said she didn't believe Dr Napthine's assurance that no jobs would go as a result of the restructure.

"Victorians know they just can't trust a Liberal premier when it comes to protecting public service jobs," Ms Allan said.

She said the restructure was a demotion for Planning Minister Matthew Guy, who would be under Transport Minister Terry Mulder's supervision.

"(It's) purely to keep tabs on the movements of a key leadership rival for the premier," she said.

Aboriginal and veterans affairs will now come under the Department of Premier and Cabinet and the Department of Planning and Community Development will be abolished.

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Anger grows over Holden's job cuts

Holden's decision to cut 500 jobs has two state governments considering pulling out funding deals. Source: AAP

TWO state governments are threatening to withhold tens of millions of dollars in assistance and unions are describing Holden as a "shocking corporate citizen" after the car giant announced plans to axe 500 Australian jobs.

Component makers have also warned that Holden's decision to build fewer cars means jobs will go among suppliers.

Victorian Premier Denis Napthine is warning that Holden won't see a dollar from his government if it breaks a taxpayer-funded investment deal struck just last year.

"We haven't paid any money to Holden and we won't pay money to Holden if they don't adhere to the principles agreed to," Mr Napthine said on Tuesday.

South Australian Premier Jay Weatherill also set the stage for his government to walk away from a promise to provide $50 million from 2016, part of a $275 million federal-state funding package.

He rejected suggestions from the company that no deal had been finalised, saying it was "manifest" in the exchange of letters.

Unions said every South Australian would be shocked by the company's behaviour.

"Holden took money from South Australian taxpayers and then just tore up the agreement," SA Unions secretary Janet Giles said.

She branded Holden a "shocking corporate citizen" and said if it refused to live up to its part, SA should withhold its investment and use the cash to help workers about to lose jobs.

Mr Weatherill plans to have another meeting with Holden chairman Mike Devereux later this week to thrash out a new arrangement.

He insists employment levels in SA, where 400 assembly line jobs will go, were an essential part of the agreement and he will now consider the state's options.

"I have to weigh up their commitment to investing $1 billion and the long-term security of the plant," he told reporters on Tuesday.

"I have to weigh up the present needs of these 400 workers and I also have to protect the taxpayers."

But Mr Devereux said he was mystified as to how he could be in breach of a deal that was still to be signed.

"As I sit here today we don't have a contract," Mr Devereux told Adelaide radio 5AA.

The Holden boss said the parties were six to eight months into the formal contract process that would hopefully be finalised later this year.

Under the terms of the assistance package, Holden will get $275 million from 2016 in joint federal-state funding to ensure the future of the company's local assembly operations until at least 2022.

That is on top of the near $2 billion the company has been paid by taxpayers over the past decade.

The federal government continues to defend the assistance paid to the car industry as the best way to leverage investment.

"That is, we put money in, they put more money in," Finance Minister Penny Wong said.

"We think that's the best way to ensure a viable, ongoing car industry."

Component suppliers have also backed the investment program at the same time warning Holden's move to build fewer cars will flow through to the component sector, where jobs will also go.

"The less cars that are being produced means the less components that are being made," Federation of Automotive Products Manufacturers (FAPM) chief executive Richard Reilly said.

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Asylum seekers arrive in Geraldton Harbour

A boat carrying 66 suspected asylum seekers has turned up in the West Australian city of Geraldton. Source: AAP

A SUSPECTED asylum seeker boat carrying 66 people has been escorted into the West Australian port city of Geraldton after being intercepted just 100 metres from shore.

About 430km north of Perth, Geraldton is more than 2000km south of the usual interception area for unauthorised boat arrivals, off Christmas Island.

Steve Ranch, who manages the local Dome cafe, told AAP that locals were stunned to see a crowded wooden fishing boat, about 20m long, approaching the shore about noon (WST) on Tuesday.

"At first people weren't sure what was going on," Mr Ranch said.

"We thought it was a hoax or a publicity stunt but then we saw the customs towing it away."

Mr Ranch said the boat remained 100m offshore in Geraldton Harbour for about an hour before authorities intercepted it.

It's believed the boat came from Sri Lanka and had been at sea for about six weeks.

Home Affairs Minister Jason Clare confirmed in a statement that customs officials had taken the vessel ashore and said a temporary screening centre had been set up to process the arrivals.

Two local men testing the motor in a dinghy are said to have come across the vessel about 500m offshore.

Pictures taken by the men showed the passengers carrying a flag and saying they intended to travel to New Zealand.

The passengers are said to include several children and a pregnant woman.

Opposition border protection spokesman Scott Morrison said the boat's arrival on the WA coast was a sign of the Gillard government's failure to protect Australia's borders.

"For locals in Geraldton, Labor's border protection failures literally came to their harbour this afternoon, and that is emblematic of the state of chaos that we have seen from this government on our borders," Mr Morrison told reporters in Sydney.

"It is not funny at all, and this demonstrates the government's border failures have got to the point that people think they can just turn up anywhere on our coast.

"The smugglers and those seeking to come know that this government is a soft touch and it is open to all comers."

Under existing legislation, asylum seekers who reach the mainland can avoid being sent to processing centres on Nauru or Manus Island in Papua New Guinea.

WA Premier Colin Barnett said he was "alarmed" that a boat of asylum seekers could sail undetected into Geraldton port.

"This is a serious, unprecedented and unacceptable breach of Australia's border security," he said.

"That a boat, laden with people, can sail into a busy regional port in broad daylight is shocking."

Geraldton port is one of Australia's busiest regional ports and the country's second-largest for grain export.

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Tas Greens move to let 16-year-olds vote

TASMANIA'S Greens are moving to get 16-year-olds the vote in time for the state's next election.

Greens leader Nick McKim will table a motion in parliament this week that would allow those aged 16 and 17 to volunteer to vote.

Mr McKim, a cabinet minister whose party shares power with Labor in Tasmania, is hopeful the reform will be in place in time for the state election due in March next year.

"Currently 16-year-olds can work, pay taxes, use a firearm, get arrested, join the army, have children, get behind the wheel of a car and live on their own, but they are prevented from voting in an election," Mr McKim said in a statement.

"It makes no sense that young Tasmanians can work a job and be taxed like anyone else, but then have no say in how those taxes are spent.

"It sends the wrong message to young people that their input into democracy is not valued, and that their views on public policies that affect them cannot be trusted."

Under the proposal, youths who chose to enrol would then be subject to compulsory voting rules.

Mr McKim said Austria, Argentina and Brazil had already granted 16-year-olds the vote, and similar moves were underway in the UK.

He said his motion had been timed to take place during National Youth Week.

"This is about strengthening our democracy by enfranchising thousands of smart, politically-aware young Tasmanian adults ...," Mr McKim said.

Tasmania's Liberal opposition called the move a "stunt", saying Mr McKim should be focused on his portfolios of education, transport and corrections.

"Instead of lowering the voting age, Minister McKim should be directing his efforts to ensure 16-year-olds can read and write, they have a bus service that can get them to school and that there is a well-run prison to keep them safe from criminals," deputy opposition leader Jeremy Rockliff said.

The Greens leader has been under pressure in two of his portfolios, with ongoing bus strikes and the departure of a high-profile prison reformer.

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Lack of rain hurts Ruralco profit

Agribusiness Ruralco has issued a profit warning in the wake of low rainfall across Australia. Source: AAP

LOW rainfall across most of Australia will probably slash agribusiness Ruralco's profit in the first four months of its financial year by up to 70 per cent.

Ruralco managing director John Maher says a lack of rain across most of Australia's key agricultural regions has reduced demand for agricultural chemicals.

Lower demand for restocking livestock has also affected livestock prices.

Ruralco warned on Monday that underlying earnings for between last October and January would be 40 to 50 per cent lower than the same four months a year earlier.

Underlying profit - before non-recurring items - was expected fall 60 to 70 per cent from $11 million previously.

Reported net profit for the half year to March 31 was also anticipated to be break even.

"Profit lost over the first four months of the year will be difficult to recoup," Mr Maher said in a statement."

"However, a normal autumn seasonal break leading to solid winter crop plantings, mildly strengthening livestock prices, flow-through benefit of structural savings and part-year contributions from recent acquisitions is expected to lead to a significantly improved trading performance in the second half of the financial year."

Shares in Ruralco slumped 23 per cent, or 6.9 per cent, to close at $3.08.

Ruralco said a re-evaluation of the company's 12.04 per cent stake in agribusiness Elders, and higher interest costs would also affect the half-year result.

Mr Maher said average sheep prices had fallen by about 30 per cent and cattle prices were down about 11 per cent.

Sales of rural supplies had fallen about five per cent as hot and dry conditions had reduced the need for weed, pest and disease management products.

Ruralco will report its half-year results on May 21.

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Missing diabetic man found in WA bush

A DIABETIC man missing since Saturday night after walking away from a campsite near Augusta in Western Australia's southwest has been found safe and well.

Police said 35-year-old Luke Kocsis was camping with friends at Scott National Park when he decided to walk the 40km back to Margaret River after a disagreement.

He was reported missing on Sunday afternoon.

Police and State Emergency Service volunteers searched for him for six hours on Sunday evening but failed to find him.

The search resumed at 6am (WST) on Monday, and at about 2.30pm, Mr Kocsis was found on Woodarburrup Road.

A police spokesman said Mr Kocsis appeared in good health but he was being checked by a St John's Ambulance crew.

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We're different now, says Vodafone boss

Vodafone is attempting to repair its damaged image with a new customer service focus. Source: AAP

VODAFONE Australia chief executive Bill Morrow is building a leaner, more focused carrier in a bid to make his network Australia's most trusted mobile service by the end of this year.

Mr Morrow said the carrier was pursuing a strategy to lift its reputation in a narrower target market.

"We can't be all things to all people - we're not going to make the capital investment that one of our other competitors has, to get that wider coverage of a network," Mr Morrow said in a briefing with reporters.

"We're not going to try to market to those customers that live in or need that coverage area that we don't support."

Vodafone is trying to rebuild its image and customer base, spending a reported $2 billion in Australia on network improvements and customer service to "earn back the hearts and minds of the Australian people".

"Let's just be straight up with people - what happened, happened," Mr Morrow said.

"2013 is all about trying to earn back trust.

"We did let our customers down historically - that's different now."

Vodafone Australia is a joint venture between UK-based Vodafone and Hutchison Telecommunications Australia - a subsidiary of Hong Kong's Hutchison Whampoa.

Mr Morrow said the two stakeholder companies had agreed to spend money on Australia because the plan had a reasonable rate of return.

"We expect to get into a customer growth position by the end of this year," he said.

Vodafone has announced it will switch on its 4G network from June, has added 2,000 mobile phone towers to improve coverage and introduced a "network guarantee" opt-out for unhappy customers as part of a push to heal its damaged brand.

The third-ranked telco has lost about 1.3 million customers since 2010 because of chronic network and service problems.

Mr Morrow's presentation outlined a journey for Vodafone from "low trust" in 2011 to "most trusted" by the end of the year.

Vodafone will start offering its high-speed 4G, or fourth-generation, network to customers in Sydney, Perth, Melbourne, Brisbane and Adelaide from June, with regional centres to follow.

Mr Morrow said the company has also worked on improving its 3G coverage and will have 6,000 mobile towers in its network by the end of the year, up from 3,600 three years ago.

The carrier's new strategy will also emphasise coverage in built-up areas and regional areas rather than remote parts of the country.

Mr Morrow has directed that staff not sign up customers if the company could not offer adequate network coverage in their area.

Vodafone has slashed its costs, including sacking 45 per cent of local staff to reduce numbers to about 3,000 people - a move Mr Morrow said had created a more focused workforce.

The mobile carrier is offering a "network guarantee" to new customers, allowing them to cancel contracts within the first 30 days if they are unhappy with network coverage.

The guarantee is not available to existing customers.

Vodafone has also set up a call centre in Hobart, seeking to improve service and public perception by shunning overseas call centres.

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WA man charged after woman shot dead

A MAN has been charged with murder after a woman was shot dead in northern Western Australia.

Major crime detectives flew to Port Hedland when the woman suffered gunshot wounds and later died at the Hedland Health Campus.

Several calls were made to police around 6.30pm (WST) on Saturday, regarding a disturbance in Bayman Street.

Members of the public reported a man was armed with a firearm. They said shots had been fired and a woman had been injured.

Local officers found the 43-year-old woman with a gunshot wound. She was given emergency medical treatment but was later pronounced dead.

Police could not immediately find the suspect who was known to the victim.

A 62-year-old man later handed himself into police at the South Hedland Police Station.

The man from Port Hedland was later charged with one count of murder. He will appear in court on Monday.

Officers also found and seized a firearm.

Police have requested that witnesses call Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000, .

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Obama's gun dilemma 'too little, too late'

A YOUNG child in Alabama finds a gun and kills himself with a shot to the chest.

A father accidentally kills his 10-year-old son as he cleans his gun in North Carolina - the child was watching TV and the bullet hit him in the back of the head.

A 22-year-old from Florida kills her ex-boyfriend when he runs into her at a post office.

These incidents in recent weeks are just some of the 3300 deaths from gunshot in the US that happened since the Newtown massacre on December 14, according to the online magazine Slate. Most of the shootings only made the local news, if that.

The New York Times is putting such reports into a blog to highlight the country's gun problem. The daily account horrifies many readers, if comments are anything to go by.

Yet barely four months after the Newtown school killings claimed the lives of 20 children and six adult educators, US President Barack Obama is fighting a losing battle in his push for tougher gun legislation.

Next week, the US president will launch a last minute push to convince congress to ban assault weapons and large magazine clips of the type used to slaughter the Connecticut children.

On Monday, he will be in Connecticut to visit with families affected by the Newtown shooting. On Tuesday, he will stand at the White House alongside law enforcement officials who want to clamp down. On Wednesday, First Lady Michelle Obama will hammer home the theme in Chicago. And on Thursday, Vice-President Joe Biden will appear on a morning talk show for a roundtable discussion.

Yet the call to ban military-type assault weapons and large clips appears to be dead in the water, despite the power of the White House, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, and groups like Mayors Against Illegal Guns.

Congress is poised to consider a much-watered-down version of a law that only addresses background checks for gun purchases. And Obama has become the target of mockery among conservatives and gun-right advocates.

Obama, who has been criticised for remaining silent since January on the issue, in late March kicked into action again, lashing out at "powerful voices" who are "drowning out the majority" who want stricter controls.

"Shame on us if we've forgotten," an angry Obama said. "Tears aren't enough, expressions of sympathy aren't enough."

There has been some progress on the state level.

Connecticut legislators passed what experts say is one of the strictest gun laws in the country, banning future sale of 100 types of assault weapons and gun clips with more than 10 bullets.

Other states are moving along the same path, including New York, Colorado and Maryland, which will now require fingerprinting of gun buyers.

But at the same time, states like Arkansas, South Dakota, Tennessee and Kentucky have rushed to loosen state laws since the Newtown massacre. The powerful National Rifle Association (NRA) even wrote some of the laws, according to media reports, capitalising on fears of an anti-gun backlash after the killings.

Similarly, the NRA has managed to reverse the tide for gun control at the federal level, using its large lobbying organisation and political campaign fund and deploying its internet-connected membership to put pressure on federal legislators.

What remains in the proposed bill is mostly of little substance.

"The gun lobby appears to have prevailed," wrote Washington Post columnist Dana Milbank.

Obama's main problem is that even legislators from his Democratic Party are sceptical about tough gun laws. Gun-owning voters in their home states feel strong enough on the issue that a "yes" vote for gun control could prove costly in the 2014 congressional election.

According to a poll by the TV network CBS, the percentage of people favouring tougher gun laws has fallen from 57 per cent right after the shooting to only 47 per cent.

Even Obama is starting to acknowledge the country's tradition of gun ownership, saying recently he could understand why people might want to have some weapons for self-defence. Observers saw this as a sign he would sign a weak gun bill: the main thing is to have some relevant legislation.

Obama's standing has suffered, with gun control advocates feeling disappointed that he waited until late March to go into action amid reports that he has contributed little to writing the legislation.

"Too little, too late," The Washington Post wrote.

Even if the Democratic majority in the Senate could push through an ambitious gun control bill, there are few chances that such a bill could pass the Republican-dominated House of Representatives.

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China's Xi offers to reduce friction

Chinese President Xi Jinping has said no one country should be allowed to upset world peace. Source: AAP

WITH pressure growing on Beijing to get North Korea to step back from its war-like footing, Chinese President Xi Jinping has said no one country should be allowed to upset world peace and added China would work to reduce tensions over regional hotspots.

In a speech to a regional business forum with political leaders from Australia to Zaire present, Xi did not offer any concrete plans for how to deal with China's neighbour, North Korea, which has elevated regional tensions through war-like rhetoric and missile deployments in recent weeks.

Nor did Xi offer concessions to other neighbours locked in fraught disputes with Beijing over outlying islands: Japan, the Philippines and Vietnam.

It isn't clear whether Xi was taking a swipe at North Korea or the United States, a frequent target of Chinese criticism, when he criticised unilateral acts that threaten stability.

"The international community should advocate the vision of comprehensive security and co-operative security, so as to turn the global village into a big stage for common development rather than an arena where gladiators fight each other. And no one should be allowed to throw the region, or even the whole world, into chaos for selfish gains," Xi said at the Boao Forum for Asia, a China-sponsored talk shop for the global elite.

Ambiguity aside, Xi's speech stands in contrast to more strident remarks he has made in recent months and marks an effort to strike an active, co-operative posture to calm regional tensions.

This year's Boao meeting - an annual event billed as Asia's version of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland - is being watched for signs of whether Xi, installed in power five months ago, is ready to stake out new directions in a foreign policy that has been bullying toward some neighbours and passive on many international security issues.

The new Xi government is being especially challenged over North Korea. Pyongyang's ratcheting up of tensions in recent months - from tests of a long-range missile and a nuclear device to threats of nuclear strikes - have concerned South Korea and the United States, important economic partners for China which have looked to Beijing to rein in its longtime, if estranged communist ally.

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Slipper's lawyer to reveal plea

FORMER federal parliamentary speaker Peter Slipper's lawyer is expected to reveal on Monday his client's plea to charges related to alleged fraudulent use of government-issued taxi vouchers.

Mr Slipper's case will be mentioned in the ACT Magistrates Court on Monday morning.

He is not required to be present so long as a plea is indicated.

Mr Slipper faces three charges alleging he dishonestly used a taxpayer-funded Cabcharge card for $1000 worth of trips to wineries and restaurants outside Canberra in 2010.

A former Liberal party member, Mr Slipper resigned from the speaker's position last year and now sits on the crossbenches as an independent federal MP for his Queensland seat of Fisher.

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