Police deny talk of Claremont arrest

DETECTIVES in Perth have taken the unusual step of denying rumours that they are close to an arrest in the notorious unsolved Claremont serial killings.

Police are still hunting for the killer of Jane Rimmer, 23, Ciara Glennon, 27, abducted from the well-to-do western suburb of Claremont and murdered in 1996 and 1997. Sarah Spiers, 18, disappeared from the suburb in 1996.

The former two women were found dead, but no trace has been found of Ms Spiers.

On Wednesday, a statement from police said rumours that a significant announcement was pending in relation to the investigation were not correct.

Detective Superintendent Anthony Lee of the Major Crime Division said there was no substance to the rumours suggesting an arrest was imminent or that a significant announcement regarding the investigation was to be made.

"This type of rumour does not serve to assist the investigation and causes unnecessary distress to the families," Det Supt Lee said.

"We know the investigation generates significant interest and for this reason WA Police are clarifying the situation with the public."

Task Force Macro, set up to probe the killings, is Australia's longest-running and most expensive murder investigation.

Ms Spiers went missing from outside a Claremont nightclub in January 1996. She is presumed dead.

Ms Rimmer's body was found in bushland south of Perth in August 1996.

Ms Glennon was found murdered on April 3, 1997 - 19 days after she was last seen in Claremont.

15.02 | 0 komentar | Read More

HSU recorded escort payments as 'meetings'

Former MP Craig Thomson's union labelled payments to escorts as meetings, a court has heard. Source: AAP

FORMER MP Craig Thomson's union-issued credit card made payments to escorts which were labelled meetings, entertainment and teleconferencing in the union's accounting records, a court has been told.

Thomson, 49, has been charged with dozens of dishonesty offences over the alleged misuse of his credit cards while general secretary of the Health Services Union (HSU) and a federal MP.

Victoria Police forensic accountant Gerard Curtin, who compiled a report based on bank statements and HSU records, said $5993 had been paid to six escort agencies from Thomson's Commonwealth Bank MasterCard.

He said the payments were classified as "Meetings National Office", entertainment or teleconferencing in the HSU's accounting files.

Of the $164,556 spent on the card, some $35,634 was not reconciled in the HSU's books, Mr Curtin said.

Under cross-examination from Thomson's barrister Greg James, Mr Curtin said the union's classification for expenses was slipshod.

"I would not put them down as reliable," Mr Curtin told the court.

Thomson has pleaded not guilty to 145 charges of obtaining financial advantage by deception over the alleged misuse of $28,449 between 2002 and 2008.

The hearing continues on Thursday before Magistrate Charlie Rozencwajg.

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Adelaide to Darwin railway 10 years old

NORTHERN Territorians on Thursday will mark the 10-year anniversary of the opening of the Adelaide to Darwin railway.

A rail line linking Australia's southern states with the tropical north was first suggested in 1858, but it took until 2004 for the first freight train to roll into Darwin from the South Australian capital.

Critics originally called $1.2 billion railway a white elephant, but supporters said it was a nation-building project.

Ten years later, two passenger services and about 30 mining and general freight trains trundle up the 1420-kilometre line each week.

Genesee & Wyoming Australia, which owns and operates the railway, will hold a ceremony on Thursday to mark the anniversary.

NT Chief Minister Adam Giles and former deputy prime minister Tim Fischer are expected to attend.

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Armstrong's downfall to open film festival

A documentary about the downfall of cyclist Lance Armstrong will open Adelaide's festival DocWeek. Source: AAP

ADELAIDE'S second documentary festival lives up to its expansive title - Splendour, Fear, Sex, Drugs, Rock & Roll, Wonder, Death and all the other things you love.

And the opening night screening about cyclist Lance Armstrong's downfall easily fits into a few of those categories.

DocWeek is part of The Australian International Documentary Conference (AIDC) and its director Joost den Hartog says The Armstrong Lie is an incredible and gripping film by Alex Gibney.

"He started to make a film about Lance Armstrong's comeback, The Long Road Back," he told AAP on Wednesday after the launch of the 2014 DocWeek program.

But when the doping scandal unravelled, Gibney confronted Armstrong saying: "You have been lying to my face and I think you owe me an explanation".

He again got access to Armstrong, who becomes a "very active participant in the film".

"It's quite an incredible documentary where the actual story changes while the film is being made," says Den Hartog.

The other opening night screening is the Australian premiere of The Last Impresario by Gracie Otto, about Michael White, described as "the most famous person you've never heard of".

The talent spotter, film producer, theatrical impresario and friend of the rich and famous helped transform Britain's cultural scene in the 1970s.

"Now in his 80s, this party boy hasn't slowed down and isn't planning to do so," says Den Hartog.

DocWeek features more than 40 films, including the Asia-Pacific New Documentary Program with films from China, Vanuatu, New Caledonia, New Zealand, Malaysia and India.

Another highlight is From The Bottom of the Lake, Claire Young's portrait of film director Jane Campion.

"We follow Jane and her co-writer Gerard Lee as they create the critically acclaimed series Top of the Lake from note book to Golden Globe."

Den Hartog is particularly excited at being able to feature the "most important documentary filmmaker of the moment, Alex Gibney, with the most talented one, Marshall Curry".

Gibney's Armstrong film is one of nine of his to be screened, including Silence in the House of God: Mea Maxima Culpa about child abuse and the Vatican, and Park Avenue: Money, Power and The American Dream.

The Curry offerings include If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front, looking at the lines between activism and terrorism.

There's also a series of documentaries on motor city Detroit, which filed for bankruptcy last July, halved in size and has been dubbed the graveyard of the American dream.

"The city is dead, long live the city," says den Hartog.

"Kick out the Jams celebrates the resilience of mankind, the grass roots community building and the creative entrepreneurialism and arts resurgence that happened as a natural response to the breakdown of the dominant economic forces.

"Against a soundtrack of the MC5, Kick Out the Jams, takes you on a journey through a broken down cityscape filled with sheer beauty."

* Adelaide's DocWeek runs from March 4 to 9, 2014.

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Detention centres are 'dysfunctional'

THREE asylum seekers escaped a Western Australia detention centre in 45 seconds last week, exposing major security flaws at the facility, a leaked report has revealed.

The January 12 breakout was the third escape from the Yongah Hill Detention Centre in five months and an embarrassment for Serco, which manages Australia's detention centres and WA's prisoner transport system.

Documents reveal security weaknesses including asylum-seeker access to the internet for maps, to book plane tickets and organise getaway cars through social media.

Detainees had also become more confident as a result of the number of recent escapes and the lack of penalties, while the voltage on the 3.2-metre electric fence at Yongah Hill was not strong enough to shock escapees and was easy to climb.

A Serco insider described the entire system as "dysfunctional" and said he was speaking out against "incompetence".

"There is no training given and everything is about money," he told The Sunday Times newspaper.

"Every time we have these incidents the main effort isn't improving, but more so passing the buck and looking for someone to blame."

Two of the Vietnamese detainees from the January 12 breakout have been caught, but the third remains on the run.

A spokeswoman for Immigration Minister Scott Morrison said recommendations made by Serco following any escape incident were considered and implemented if appropriate.

"There are service standards in place with regard to performance against the department's contract with its detention service provider, Serco, and compliance with these standards is regularly reviewed," she told AAP.

"Security is a key performance indicator under the contract and there is provision for abatement for such breaches."

The incident happened a week after a rapist and alleged armed robber kicked their way out of a prison van at Geraldton Airport, prompting a 36-hour manhunt.

A third prisoner escaped from Serco's custody while being treated at Joondalup Health Campus on Friday afternoon and was caught on Sunday.

The prisoner ripped a metal rail off a wall and threatened staff, so guards shut him in a bathroom and it is believed he then climbed through the ceiling to escape.

15.03 | 0 komentar | Read More

Vic's Halls Gap 'dodged fire bullet'

HALLS Gap dodged a bullet when a wind change spared the holiday village from fire, Victoria's fire chief says.

Tourists and residents of the village and surrounding towns were evacuated as fire burned in the northern area of the Grampians National Park on Friday, although some locals chose to stay to defend their homes.

Authorities are beginning the clean-up after the bushfire destroyed 10 homes and burnt more than 51,800 hectares.

Incident controller Andrew Morrow said some sections of the fire are not yet under control but emergency services have been focusing on returning residents to their homes and opening major roads where safe to do so.

"There is still a lot of work to do in back burning and blacking out to ensure the fire is safe, but we also need to move in to the recovery stage so that the wider Grampians area can get back to operating as usual."

Fire Services Commissioner Craig Lapsley said Halls Gap was back in business and had an earlier-than-expected wind change to thank.

"Halls Gap dodged a bullet," Mr Lapsley told Fairfax Radio on Sunday, referring to the change.

The main fire front came within 4km of Halls Gap, although a number of spot fires were closer.

Halls Gap is the first time an evacuation order has been used since the evacuation policy came in after the 2009 Black Saturday bushfires.

A small number of homeowners elected to stay, with fire trucks also in the town.

"If you have a pecuniary interest and you make that decision and you're well briefed - which they were - that's your right," Mr Lapsley said.

"But on the same token if it becomes a very unsafe situation or if it becomes where people are behaving in a way that is endangering themselves, police still could take some really serious actions and remove them, but that's not where we wanted to be nor were we at."

Premier Denis Napthine says authorities will examine how the evacuation went in the Grampians but that compulsory evacuation is unlikely.

Mr Lapsley also believes it's not necessary to remove the right of property owners to stay to fight a fire.

"I would suggest you would not need to change the law of the land in that regard."

A number of fires have also been burning in the southern Grampians but they are now all contained or controlled.

Overnight the Black Range bushfire jumped containment lines and began moving towards Stawell but the threat has since eased.

The Grampians National Park will remain closed until noon on Monday.

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Body found in search for missing Vic man

A BODY has been found in an abandoned Victorian mine shaft by police investigating the suspicious disappearance of a man eight months ago.

Detectives investigating the suspicious April 2013 disappearance of 48-year-old Deer Park man Ricky Lee Ganly made the discovery on Sunday.

Police divers found the body in a submerged car, inside a water-filed 20-metre-deep mine site near Avoca in central Victoria.

The body, which is yet to be identified, was found about 2.30pm (AEDT).

Police say Mr Ganly was last seen by his girlfriend at his Doherty Street home about on April 28 last year.

He has not accessed his bank accounts or been seen since.

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Fires near NSW homes, but ease in Vic, SA

HOMES in southern NSW are at risk as a bushfire intensifies but Victoria and South Australia look to have avoided large-scale disasters.

Deteriorating conditions have helped fan a fire threatening the isolated rural NSW properties.

An emergency warning has been issued for the Humula, Carabost and Little Billabong areas after a southwesterly wind change on Sunday afternoon put homes "under immediate threat" from the out-of-control Minimbah fire, which is "burning quickly and erratically", the NSW Rural Fire Service (RFS) says.

It has blazed through more than 8000 hectares.

"Firefighters are actively undertaking property protection," the RFS said on its website.

"There are reports of property losses, however, due to dangerous fire conditions, firefighters are unable to enter a number of fire-affected areas."

In Victoria, a favourable wind change spared the tourist town of Halls Gap from widespread destruction when it stopped an advancing bushfire four kilometres shy of the town's boundaries.

Ten homes were destroyed by the blaze and more than 51,800 hectares burnt, and Fire Services Commissioner Craig Lapsley said that number would increase.

Across Victoria 35 fires are still listed as burning, with 130,000 hectares burnt.

Easing conditions have helped firefighters in South Australia battling the Bangor fire in the southern Flinders Ranges.

The blaze has destroyed six homes and burnt more than 19,000 hectares of grassland, and is the only fire in the state that remains on a watch and act alert.

The SA Country Fire Service (CFS) says while the fire has not grown significantly on Sunday, it is still not controlled.

Residents in the area are urged not to return as the fire is still burning in steep terrain with conditions changing continually.

A blaze in Eden Valley that burnt through more than 24,000 hectares has been downgraded to advice level.

Meanwhile, more than 60 RFS firefighters, with heavy machinery and water-bombing aircraft, are trying to control another NSW fire at Redbank, near Bathurst.

The bushfire, which has scorched more than 300 hectares, is burning through a pine plantation and "is proving difficult to contain", the RFS said.

An emergency warning was issued at 4.30pm (AEDT) for the fire burning out of control in the Copperhannia National Park area, near Bathurst.

The 100-hectare fire is heading east towards Trunkey Creek.

Frantic work to build containment lines for another bushfire at Minjary, between Canberra and Wagga Wagga, is also underway.

The scrub fire has burnt 2675 hectares and is being controlled.

About 900 firefighters have been deployed across NSW to battle 50 fires sparked on Saturday by lightning strikes.

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Man planned to kill shop landlord: court

A SEAFOOD shop operator in northern New South Wales has been accused of conspiring to kill his landlord.

Police allege Menniti Seafoods operator Joseph Palermo was planning the murder, having intercepted "concerning phone taps" and finding a shortened shotgun in his car.

Palermo, 36, and his co-accused Trent Daniel Habershon, 25, faced charges of conspiracy to murder in the Brisbane Magistrates Court on Saturday.

Palermo was also charged over the possession of the gun that was allegedly wrapped in a towel in his car boot.

Prosecutor acting Senior Sergeant Tara Pease said police phone taps on Wednesday night revealed the men were planning to put a GPS tracking device in the landlord's car.

A conversation between the pair at 5.20pm said: "We have no choice now. We have to go up and get the old man tonight."

Another at 9.20pm indicated the pair were planning to do something at 3am: "It's a better idea, it's cleaner ... we will get him on his way to work."

Acting Sen Sgt Pease said police believed Palermo was conducting surveillance around the landlord's home at Clayfield, in Brisbane's north.

Palermo's mobile had "bounced off" phone towers in the area, she said.

Police stopped the men outside the landlord's home, and uncovered the gun along with two large zip ties, a knife, a baton and printed emails detailing the landlord's behaviour.

Lawyer Jason Buckland, for Palermo, told the court police suspected, but couldn't prove, his client was going to cause damage to the landlord's property.

The conspiracy to murder charge was surprising, he said.

Mr Buckland said Palermo had operated the Tweed Heads seafood business for seven years and had invested about $500,000 in equipment before being locked out of the premises by the landlord over unpaid rent.

Palermo had filed Supreme Court proceedings seeking damages, he said.

Magistrate Jacqui Payne said Palermo was a serious risk and should remain in custody.

Mr Buckland withdrew an application for bail and Palermo was remanded in custody until the case returns to court on February 10.

Habershon made no application for bail and was remanded in custody until February 10.

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Order out to arrest PNG opposition leader

ORDERS have been issued for the arrest of Papua New Guinea's opposition leader amid allegations he threatened the police commissioner.

The country's top cop, Tom Kulunga, on Saturday ordered the arrest of Belden Namah on allegations the former deputy prime minister threatened him in a letter.

In the letter Mr Namah allegedly demanded Mr Kulunga reinstate four policemen who were suspended after a warrant was issued for the arrest of Prime Minister Peter O'Neill.

A police spokesman told AAP the order for Mr Namah's arrest was issued on Saturday morning.

Further comment is being sought from police.

Mr Namah is expected to give a press conference on Saturday night.

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