RBA commodity price index at 47-month low

EXPORT commodity prices fell in February to their lowest level in almost four years.

The Reserve Bank of Australia's index of commodity prices was 1.3 per cent lower in foreign currency terms in the month.

Coking coal and iron ore were the most important contributors to the monthly fall and were partly offset by a rising gold price, the RBA said on Monday.

The RBA said the prices of many base metals fell, while many rural commodities enjoyed price rises.

The February level of the index was 27 per cent lower than its peak in July 2011.

It was last below the current level 47 months earlier in March 2010.

And there appears to be more falls already in the pipeline.

The decline in commodity prices over the past 12 months was 12 per cent in foreign currency terms, based on prices actually paid, often under contract.

But, the RBA said, using spot prices - those negotiated in real time - the index would have fallen by 17.5 per cent through the year to February.

Between the July 2011 peak and February, the Australian dollar fell by an average of 11 per cent against the currencies of Australia's trading partners, according to RBA data.

That fall in the exchange rate has cushioned the blow but not completely nullified it - the index is still down by 17 per cent from its peak when measured in Australian dollars.

The foreign currency price index is measured in terms of special drawing rights (SDRs), an average of four major currencies - the US dollar, euro, Japanese yen, and British pound.

15.02 | 0 komentar | Read More

Qld reforms 'could increase youth crime'

TOUGH new measures aimed at young offenders in Queensland could actually increase crime, lawyers and Amnesty International have warned.

Queensland could soon have the harshest laws in Australia if Attorney-General Jarrod Bleijie does away with the principle of detention as a last resort for young criminals.

Under the government's plans, young offenders would also be named and shamed and transferred to adult jails when they turn 17.

The Queensland Law Society opposed the majority of the recommendations at a public hearing at parliament house on Monday.

It said the naming and shaming plan would stigmatise young offenders, hurt their rehabilitation prospects, and could increase recidivism by strengthening bonds with criminal sub-cultures.

The law society also rubbished reports that youth crime is on the rise.

It quoted from the children's court's annual report, which pointed to a 6.9 per cent drop in youth crime in 2011/12, and an even larger fall the year before.

It also pointed to evidence of fewer young people going through the courts, but a rise in the total number of charges, indicating an increasing problem with repeat offenders.

The law society says the government should be focused on intervention programs for those repeat offenders rather than sweeping reforms.

"What we do know is that sentencing young people to detention actually increases the likelihood of them returning to detention, entering the adult criminal justice system, and that provides less protection to the community," Children's Law Committee Chair Damian Bartholomew told parliament's legal affairs committee.

Amnesty International, which has 40,000 members in Queensland, also expressed grave concerns about the government's plans.

It said the changes were in direct conflict with the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, which says the arrest, detention and imprisonment of young people should be a last resort.

Amnesty's government relations manager Louise Allen urged the committee to consider overwhelming evidence pointing to the ineffectiveness of the proposals.

"This bill risks having serious and long-term detrimental consequences on the lives of at-risk young kids," Ms Allen said.

Mr Bleijie says the number of offences and the seriousness of offences climbed under the former Labor government's slap-on-the-wrist approach.

"It's resulted in hardened, repeat offenders, criminals who are in their early teens and that's precisely what these reforms target," he told AAP.

Mr Bleijie says the reforms were overwhelmingly supported by more than 4000 respondents, who were mostly victims of crime.

15.02 | 0 komentar | Read More

Reynolds readies for WA Senate re-run

WA Senate candidate Linda Reynolds (L) says she's not angry she has to hit the campaign trail again. Source: AAP

DESPITE winning fair and square in the West Australian Senate election, Liberal candidate Linda Reynolds says she's not angry about having to go back on the hustings.

The former adjutant general in the Australian Army says she's taken last month's High Court decision to void the result of the WA poll in her stride.

Ms Reynolds won the state's fourth seat in both the initial count and the recount, during which the Australian Electoral Commission lost 1370 ballots, prompting a fresh election on April 5.

Under the electoral act, an election cannot be held for just the contentious fifth and sixth seats.

"I'm actually very calm about it - I'm generally not angry about it at all," Ms Reynolds told AAP.

She remains number three on the party's ticket, behind David Johnston and Michaelia Cash, and ahead of Slade Brockman.

Two candidates - Steve Thomas and Chris Oughton - have dropped off.

The opposition has so far only re-endorsed its top two, Joe Bullock and Louise Pratt, in that order.

"We'll clear up the rest of the ticket in the next couple of days," Labor state secretary Simon Mead said.

Ms Reynolds said she heard much the same comments from the electorate while doorknocking last week as she did before the September federal election, but voters were increasingly nervous about jobs.

"For WA, that means we need the economy to grow and we need to get more of a fairer share. I think it's not just about GST, but also infrastructure spending, which we desperately need in the west."

She said the opposition's criticism of the federal government's refusal to fund urban rail showed Labor was out of touch and city-centric.

"People in Western Australia are savvy enough to know the difference between state and federal responsibilities."

15.02 | 0 komentar | Read More

Egg warning over Vic salmonella outbreak

VICTORIANS have been warned of the higher risk of eating raw or undercooked eggs after more than 200 people fell ill from salmonella.

Health authorities have linked two restaurants to raw-egg foods using products from western Victorian supplier Green Eggs.

The Department of Environment and Primary Industries has restricted the sale of eggs from the Green Eggs farm near Ararat until extra cleaning and hygiene measures are taken.

More than 200 people became ill with gastroenteritis after eating at the Bottle of Milk restaurant in Torquay, and a handful of others suffered the same fate after dining at St Kilda's Newmarket hotel.

There have been other isolated cases, and those affected have ranged in age from nine months to over 65 years.

Chief health officer Rosemary Lester says Green Eggs, which supplies a range of Victorian eateries, markets and supermarkets, is still being investigated as the definite source and testing will take a few days.

Dr Lester warned that food and drinks containing raw and undercooked eggs, including mayonnaise, aioli, eggnog and tiramisu, had previously been linked to salmonella outbreaks in Victoria.

"These foods can be a risk, especially for the elderly and people with lowered immunity, children and pregnant women," she said.

Dr Lester said cooking eggs until they were hot all the way through made them safe from contaminants such as salmonella.

Anyone who has bought Green Eggs are advised to use them for cooked dishes only, and restaurants wanting to prepare raw-egg foods or dressings should get their eggs elsewhere while changes at the farm are being made.

Dr Lester said people needed to check that eggs were clean and without cracks before buying them.

Washing eggs at home is also not recommended because it makes it easier for bacteria to penetrate the shell.

Newmarket Hotel owner Tom Walker said he felt terrible for those affected by what has happened.

"We take health and hygiene extremely seriously and are relieved that local inspections have revealed all practices and processes to be compliant and more than satisfactory," he said in a statement.

15.02 | 0 komentar | Read More

Fish and chip shopfront damage in Sydney

POLICE are trying to confirm if a bullet caused damage to a fish and chip shopfront in Sydney's south.

A man opened Hooked on Seafood on the Princes Highway at Sylvania on Sunday morning to find damage to the front window.

Police tape surrounded the shop throughout most of the day and the windows were still intact.

A nearby business told AAP there was one bullet hole in the window.

Police say a crime scene was established but no forensic or ballistic evidence was located.

Investigators are trying to confirm whether a bullet, rock or another projectile caused the damage.

15.02 | 0 komentar | Read More

Man under police guard after alleged arson

A QUEENSLAND man who allegedly set fire to a house in the state's southeast is now under police guard in hospital.

A 16-year-old girl suffered serious burns in the blaze and has been flown to Brisbane for treatment.

Police say seven people were inside the home at Oakhurst, near Maryborough, when it went up in flames on Sunday morning.

They all managed to flee before the home was gutted by fire.

Police allege a Dunmora man, 53, drove a prime-mover into the home, damaging two vehicles, before setting the house alight.

He is in Maryborough Hospital but is expected to be flown to Brisbane for burns treatment.

15.02 | 0 komentar | Read More

Hundreds rally over Vic mine fire response

HUNDREDS of residents have rallied in Victoria's Morwell where a coal mine is on fire, demanding a royal commission into what they say is a lack of action by authorities.

Protest leader Nerissa Albon said 1200 people had turned out to the rally, united in frustration over living in the smoke-affected town where a blaze at the Hazelwood open cut coal mine has been burning since February 9.

"Everybody's sick of their eyes stinging, they're sick of sore throats, they're sick of their houses being covered," she told AAP.

Demonstrators want a royal commission into what they say is a delayed government response, real assistance to leave the area and lack of fire safety infrastructure in the disused part of the mine which is ablaze.

Greens Senator Richard Di Natale, who spoke at the rally, said locals were right to be angry over conflicting health messages.

He accused the state government of a lack of leadership on the issue, saying a state of emergency should have been declared within days of the fire starting.

"We knew that the impacts of the smoke from this fire would have serious acute health impacts and quite possibly very serious longer term impacts," he told reporters in Morwell.

"The question is, what sort of exposure are we going to allow the people of Morwell to be exposed to before we act?"

Dr Di Natale, a former GP who last year led a Senate inquiry into health impacts of air pollution, said Premier Denis Napthine needed to ask Prime Minister Tony Abbott for disaster relief assistance.

Mine operator, GDF Suez, had a social responsibility to the residents but was also missing in action, he said.

Health Minister David Davis said the situation was being handled professionally, based on best advice.

"The chief health officer has issued advisories on the basis of the evidence that's available, on the basis of the best possible advice," he told reporters.

Mr Davis said the government will provide whatever assistance is reasonable and health department officers will individually assess each family.

Chief Health Officer Rosemary Lester advised on Friday that people over 65, preschool-age children, pregnant women and those with a pre-existing heart or lung condition should move from Morwell South as the fire will most likely not be extinguished in the next 10 days as first thought.

The state government will hold an independent inquiry into the fires.

15.02 | 0 komentar | Read More

CleanUp Australia back at work

Around 550,000 volunteers will focus on cigarette butts and drink bottles for CleanUp Australia day. Source: AAP

CLEANUP Australia's Ian Kiernan and more than half a million of his mates will spend Sunday applying his newly developed formula, E=1.

Operating out of Tasmania in 2014, Mr Kiernan is leading the 24th annual CleanUp Australia day and more than half a million volunteers will scour the scrub, sand, parks, creeks and bush at 7000 sites across the country.

"I have 550,000 close, personal friends now," he said.

Many other clubs and groups across the country participate but don't register, so the true figure is probably much larger, he said.

Mr Kiernan said the environment is the "absolute, primary issue" and since being awarded an honorary doctorate in science from the UNSW, he's developed a formula to help everyone remember and act with nature in mind.

"E=1, not E=mc2, that's very good, but E=1 comes long before that," he said, clarifying that E was in fact an abbreviation of environment.

The group's focus this year is cigarette butts and drink bottles.

"They're a real problem," Mr Kiernan told AAP from the group's Tasmanian headquarters

"They've got toxic material in them, they've got plastic in them and they just accumulate."

As well as improving the environment, CleanUp Australia day encourages people to live more sustainably and is great for business, Mr Kiernan said.

"Tourists won't return to degraded destinations," he said.

Mr Kiernan also wants to see South Australia's incentive-based recycling scheme replicated nationally.

"The recovery rate on beveridge containers is in excess of 85 per cent. In other cities and towns, less than 30 per cent

"Instead of seeing a bit of rubbish on the beach or beside the road, you'll see money."

15.02 | 0 komentar | Read More

Man arrested in NSW over New York death

A FUGITIVE accused of beating to death a New York store owner and robbing him of $US32,000 has been captured in Australia after NSW police secretly took samples of his DNA from glasses and cigarettes.

Abakar Gadiyev, 32, was arrested on Thursday after DNA from a mask used in the robbery matched his DNA, the New York Post reported.

Gadiyev and Arsen Bashirov, both citizens of the central Asian nation of Turkmenistan, allegedly robbed Brighton Beach storeowner Vladimir Tolstykh, 34, of a payroll bag containing $US32,000 and then beat him to death on March 14, 2009.

"The defendant robbed and attacked the victim, a store owner, after lying in wait for him in his parking garage," said a Brooklyn District Attorney memo obtained by the newspaper.

"The police conducted a lengthy investigation which led them to Gadiyev who had fled to Australia and Bashirov who had fled to Turkmenistan."

NSW police tailed Gadiyev to gather DNA left behind on items such as glasses and cigarettes so they could send the DNA samples across the Pacific Ocean to the New York Police Department NYPD for analysis.

"The evidence they sent us matched the mask," a police source said.

Gadiyev was applying to become an Australian citizen, police sources said.

US authorities plan to extradite Gadiyev to New York.

15.04 | 0 komentar | Read More

Vic rally seeks end to offshore processing

MORE than 200 people have gathered at a rally in Melbourne, calling for an end to offshore detention.

Refugee activists chanted "Close Manus, close Nauru, let the refugees in" during Saturday's protest at the State Library of Victoria.

The demonstration comes after Iranian man Reza Berati died and 62 others were injured during a February 17 asylum seeker protest at Australia's Manus Island immigration detention centre.

The protesters want the Papua New Guinea facility to be shut down and for Immigration Minister Scott Morrison to step down.

Australian Greens Senator Sarah-Hanson Young said Manus Island was untenable and must close.

"We can't be surprised of what happened last week on Manus Island but we can be ashamed that this government has let it happen. A young man's died on the watch of this government," she told the rally.

The senator said politicians on all sides had expressed upset at the recent events on Manus Island.

"They need to start crossing the floor and saying 'not in my name'," she said.

The Greens are expected to get Labor support on Monday to set up a Senate inquiry into the events of February 16-18 on the Papua New Guinea island where Australia operates the facility.

15.04 | 0 komentar | Read More