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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Labor and coalition swap insults on super

LABOR and the coalition are exchanging insults over planned changes to superannuation, with Tony Abbott saying there's no promise the government won't break.

In turn, Prime Minister Julia Gillard rounded on the opposition leader, saying his comparison of the government's superannuation plan with the economic crisis on Cyprus shows just how unfit he is on economic matters.

Former Howard government treasurer Peter Costello has also entered the fray.

Mr Costello, a consultant at the Boao Forum for Asia, which Ms Gillard is attending, says Labor's constant tinkering on superannuation, along with the mining tax and arbitrary intervention on investments, is worrying potential foreign investors.

In a move to end damaging pre-budget speculation, the government announced a series of superannuation reforms on Friday.

The key change imposes a 15 per cent tax on superannuation earnings over $100,000, a measure likely to affect some 16,000 high income earners.

The coalition says this is a raid on people's funds, while the Greens say it hasn't gone far enough.

Federal Superannuation Minister Bill Shorten said the changes had been well received across the superannuation industry.

"It's not a cash grab because any analysis of the budget numbers shows that the initiative is not bringing savings to the budget in the short term," he told journalists in Melbourne.

In Brisbane, Mr Abbott said the government had broken two earlier promises on superannuation - never to tax payments of those over 60 and undertaking to lift the concessionary contributions cap to $50,000.

"You just can't trust this government. There is nothing that they say, no commitment that they make that they won't break when it suits them," he said.

But he wasn't committing a coalition government to any particular superannuation measure just yet.

"Well, what we will do is make no unexpected adverse changes to superannuation. What we are saying is that we want to make it easier for people to invest in their retirement and we will do that but we will do that in a responsible way," he said.

Ms Gillard seized on a statement Mr Abbott made on Friday.

"Every time a government raids people's funds, there are shades of Cyprus about it," he told a community round table in Melbourne.

Ms Gillard, said this was a crazy statement that no person of reason could make.

She said the situation in Cyprus was a genuine moment of economic crisis.

"And to toy with that as if it is a political slogan is a grossly unacceptable thing to do," she said.

Mr Costello said Labor was actually raising very little revenue from these changes.

"Labor has been in office for five years. They are desperate for money. They are hungry for money. They go looking for the pot of gold. They see the pot of gold - superannuation. They create massive uncertainty. And what do they take out of it - two copper coins," he told Sky News.

Treasurer Wayne Swan dismissed criticism of the plan.

"It appears that some vested interests and newspapers are more concerned about what is happening with a very small number of very wealthy people who have millions of dollars in their superannuation accounts than they are with the superannuation savings of millions of Australian workers," told reporters in Mackay, Queensland.

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Work keeps confined Assange sane: dad

JULIAN Assange cannot even look out of the windows of the Ecuadorean embassy in London, but his confinement has not dampened his work ethic, his father says.

"The conditions are physically harsh," Assange's biological father John Shipton says.

"He's not allowed to look out the windows for fear of admirers throwing food, you don't know if it's contaminated or not."

But a constant stream of visitors is keeping his intellect alive and the demands of the WikiLeaks organisation - and now its political party - are keeping him busy, according to Mr Shipton.

Assange entered the embassy to avoid extradition to Sweden more than nine months ago.

Speaking at the launch of the WikiLeaks Party in Melbourne on Saturday, Mr Shipton described his son as "well".

"Emotionally he's steady and has tremendous support."

The Ecuadoreans are looking after him, he said.

He also has a lot to do.

On January 30, WikiLeaks announced Assange would run for a seat in the Victorian senate at the federal election on September 14.

Mr Shipton, who is the chairman of the WikiLeaks Party, says the decision to enter politics is a result of the "transparency movement" maturing.

"This is the political manifestation of an event that's been unfolding for 10 years," Mr Shipton said.

"In this way, transparency can have the arm of accountability with some political authority and power behind it."

He said Assange had first broached the possibility of running for government late in 2011 and was was "very firm" in his commitment to politics.

"If the people of Victoria elect him to represent them that's his job; to represent the people of Victoria in the senate," Mr Shipton said.

The WikiLeaks Party's newly-appointed campaign director Greg Barns on Saturday announced the party would field senate candidates in Victoria, NSW and Western Australia.

If Assange is elected in Victoria but unable to return to the country, a running mate will take-up his seat.

Mr Barns said Assange's ability to take up his seat would be up to the Australian government.

"It would be internationally embarrassing for the voters of Victoria not to be able to have in the senate the person for whom they voted on September 14," he said.

But he was unsure if a successful senate run would increase the likelihood of the WikiLeaks founder returning to Australia.

The senate bid, he said, was not a legal strategy.

"If that were the case he would simply put his name down for the Senate, run in the ungrouped category and hope to get elected."

Mr Shipton said WikiLeaks will release a million pages of documents this year.

"Julian and staff are very very busy," he said.

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