Newman should pay up or shut up: Palmer

Federal MP Clive Palmer (pic) says Queensland Premier Campbell Newman will pay for his "brain snap". Source: AAP

CLIVE Palmer is suing Queensland Premier Campbell Newman for defamation after he suggested the mining magnate tried to buy political influence.

If he succeeds, the millionaire-turned-federal MP has promised to give the proceeds to public servants retrenched by the Newman government.

An all-out war between the two bitter rivals escalated after Mr Newman claimed on Sunday that Mr Palmer tried to buy his state government and offered inducements to snare three rebel Northern Territory MPs.

"At no time have I ever offered the Newman government or any member of parliament any money or inducements," Mr Palmer told reporters on Monday.

He said that in a "brain snap", the premier had resorted to innuendo and personal attacks because he couldn't win a political argument and lacked moral courage.

"I would recommend he seeks medical treatment," he said.

Renegade NT crossbench members Alison Anderson, Larisa Lee and Francis Xavier Kurrupuwu met with Mr Palmer at his Coolum resort on Queensland's Sunshine Coast at the weekend before confirming they would join his Palmer United Party.

The three indigenous MPs quit the NT's ruling Country Liberal Party in early April, following a rift between Ms Anderson, a former territory Labor minister, and Chief Minister Adam Giles.

Mr Palmer said they had been racially vilified by some in their old party.

"It's very disappointing that you find people not giving people credit for their own independent judgment," he said.

With a Queensland election due next year, Mr Palmer said many backbench MPs in Queensland's ruling Liberal National Party had approached him, citing disillusionment with Mr Newman's leadership.

Mr Newman didn't surface to defend himself on Monday but his frontbenchers came to his aid.

Local Government Minister David Crisafulli said Mr Palmer was bitter and twisted because he thought he had bought a government.

"Mr Palmer's got to learn a lesson that there's two things that money don't buy," he said.

"One is love. The other is the Newman government."

Treasurer Tim Nicholls said Mr Palmer's preferred weapon is his wallet.

"He's tried to buy his way into elections in Tasmania and in Western Australia."

Despite being one of the LNP's biggest donors, Mr Palmer spectacularly quit the party in 2012.

His membership was suspended after he accused ministers of exaggerating the state's debt and being crooks that cooked the books.

15.03 | 0 komentar | Read More

Takeover move for Goodman Fielder not over

MELBOURNE, April 28 AAP - Two Asian companies seeking control of food producer Goodman Fielder will pursue their bid for the company despite its rejection of their $1.27 billion takeover offer.

Goodman Fielder, whose brands include Alga's, McDowell, Foetal's, Meadow Fresh and Olive Grove, said the offer from Singapore-based agribusiness Lamer International and Hong Kong investment firm First Pacific Company was too low.

The offer of 65 cents for each share, which was made over the weekend, was opportunistic and materially undervalued the company, Goodman Fielder said.

Goodman Fielder shares jumped to close 8.5 cents, or 15.45 per cent higher at 63.5 cents in the wake of the takeover proposal.

First Pacific and Lamer, which already holds a 10.1 per cent stake in Goodman Fielder, have urged the Goodman Fielder board to allow them to inspect the company's financial records.

"First Pacific and Lamer ... will continue to seek engagement with the board about entering into due diligence aimed at bringing forward a binding proposal to Goodman Fielder shareholders," the two companies said in a joint statement on Monday.

Lamer already owns Australian assets, after buying CSR's sugar business, now known as Escorting, in 2010.

In February 2012, Lamer increased its stake in Goodman Fielder from under five per cent to more than 10 per cent, sparking speculation that Lamer was about to make a takeover bid for Goodman Fielder.

Morningstar analyst Peter Rae said Lamer may be looking to expand its activities in the region to include food manufacturing.

"It's a bit difficult to see how it (Goodman Fielder) fits, because they (Lamer) are predominantly into (edible) oil and sugar refining," Mr Rae said.

"Possibly they're looking to use their ownership of oil assets to flow through to some of Goodman Fielder's manufacturing activities."

Mr Rae said the offer price for Goodman Fielder seemed reasonable, and Lamer was unlikely to offer much more.

He said Goodman Fielder was in a difficult business because the supermarkets were always squeezing the company on the price of its products, input costs were volatile and margins were constantly under pressure.

Lamer and First Pacific said their takeover offer was compelling.

The offer comes at a premium of 27 per cent to the average price of Goodman Fielder shares since the food maker's profit downgrade on April 2, the suitors said.

Goodman Fielder said at the time that it expected annual normalised earnings to be down by 10 to 15 per cent on the market's forecast of $180 million.

It also announced it was bringing forward its plans for 300 job cuts aimed at reducing costs.

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Hand hygiene 'too complex' for doctors

DOCTORS at most public hospitals are failing to follow national hand hygiene guidelines, a new study shows.

This is because the current five-step approach is too complex, says Professor Mary-Louise McLaws, an infectious diseases expert at the University of New South Wales.

Her study focused on how regularly health workers wash their hands before seeing a patient, which is the first hand-hygiene opportunity in the five-step plan adopted in Australia in 2009.

The approach should be simplified to focus on washing hands before and after seeing each patient, says Prof McLaws, who has published a report in the Medical Journal of Australia.

Human instinct will take care of other protocols, such as washing after coming into contact with bodily fluids.

"We need to simplify it. Five behaviour changes were thrown at the doctors and nurses all at once.

"The nurses got it. They are exemplary compared with doctors. But they work in teams and support each other."

Prof McLaws says the way compliance is audited also needs an overhaul. Auditors and other health workers should be empowered to intervene politely if they see a colleague breaching hygiene guidelines.

"We have neglected to help doctors change their behaviour."

They found doctors consistently performed below the national 70 per cent compliance threshold.

This increases the risk of passing on germs from one patient to another, says Prof McLaws.

Nurses' compliance was above the threshold.

But since there are more nurses than doctors this makes the national performance look better than it is, she says.

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Liberal fundraiser resigns, MP steps aside

ONE of the key fundraisers for the NSW Liberal Party has resigned and a senior Liberal MP has stood down on the first day of the state's latest corruption inquiry.

Paul Nicolaou resigned as chairman of the Millennium Foundation on Monday after being named at ICAC's Operation Spicer inquiry, which is examining allegedly corrupt payments between property developers and NSW politicians.

Developers have been banned from donating to NSW political parties since 2009.

The Millennium Foundation is the NSW Liberal's fundraising division and the ICAC heard on Monday that Mr Nicolaou was aware of prohibited donors giving money to the party via another Liberal entity, the Free Enterprise Foundation.

Liberal MP Marie Ficarra voluntarily stood down on Monday after allegations at ICAC that she took a banned $5000 donation from property developer Tony Merhi.

Liberal MPs Darren Webber, Chris Spence and former minister Chris Hartcher were suspended from the party earlier this year when some of the allegations contained within Operation Spicer were made public.

"I am shocked and appalled at the allegations raised in today's opening statement at ICAC," NSW Premier Mike Baird said in a statement.

"As I said at the announcement of this inquiry, if any wrongdoing is found, the book should, and will, be thrown at the perpetrators."

Mr Baird said he had ordered Liberal Party state director Tony Nutt to investigate the ICAC allegations.

Mr Nutt was only appointed Liberal Party state director on Monday.

"Following my appointment this afternoon I've sought urgent and detailed information regarding certain matters that arose today at the ICAC," he said in a statement.

"It is important that the NSW Liberal Party comply with the law and acts with integrity in the conduct of its affairs."

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Vic Premier to ask feds for help at COAG

MAJOR infrastructure funding and a greater share of GST revenue are Premier Denis Napthine's targets for the next Council of Australian Government (COAG) meeting in Canberra on Friday.

Dr Napthine said Victoria needs more support from the federal government.

"I will certainly be raising with the federal government the need for key infrastructure funding for Victoria that is improving transport efficiency, improving business productivity and delivering jobs for Victoria," he said.

"I will also be putting the case for Victoria to get a fairer share of the GST.

"We are being dudded under the current GST arrangements.

Last week, Victorian Treasurer Michael O'Brien blamed a cut in the state's GST revenue from 90 cents in the dollar to 88 cents in 2014-15 for a $32 hike in car registrations and an increase in vehicle stamp duty.

The extra charges would be used to fund major transport infrastructure in the May 6 state budget, he said.

Dr Napthine said he would also raise a recycling initiative at the COAG meeting.

"I will also be raising one of my pet topics, and that is the need for a national container deposit legislation approach."

15.02 | 0 komentar | Read More

We'll be fair in tough May budget: Abbott

PM Tony Abbott has refused to comment on reports his government may soon introduce a debt levy. Source: AAP

TONY Abbott has promised to be fair and equitable when meting out some of the tougher measures in the May budget.

However, the prime minister has refused to comment on reports he is considering a debt levy to tackle the deficit.

Mr Abbott said the government wouldn't "squib the challenge" of fixing the budget, when asked if the coalition would soon introduce what Labor has dubbed a "deceit tax".

Based on the Queensland flood levy, News Corporation on Sunday said a "one off" impost on high income earners would be a feature of Treasurer Joe Hockey's May budget.

Mr Abbott repeated his well-worn mantra that he would not rule anything in or out of the May 13 budget when asked about the latest speculation.

But he said the coalition had committed to fixing the "fiscal disaster" left by the Labor government.

"Now we are going to do it in ways which are faithful to the commitments that we made to the Australian people," the prime minister said on Sunday.

"We will do it in ways which are fair, which are equitable, and which I believe will be seen to be fair by the Australian people."

Labor says the levy would breach a pre-election pledge not to impose new taxes on the Australian public.

"Make no mistake, this will be the biggest broken promise of all," shadow treasurer Chris Bowen said.

"Tony Abbott told the Australian people he would cut taxes and he specifically said he would introduce no new taxes."

Mr Bowen accused Mr Hockey of creating a "conflated budget emergency".

"But that doesn't justify a tax on Australian families who would pay the cost for this breach of promise from Tony Abbott," he said.

But Mr Abbott said the government would keep its election commitments.

"A very important commitment was to get the budget back on track to a sustainable surplus, but we will do that in ways which keep faith with our commitments to the Australian people in the election campaign," he said.

The levy is the latest unpopular measure mooted to be in Mr Hockey's first budget.

Since the beginning of the year the government has been forced to fend off concerns it may introduce a GP co-payment.

Last week the treasurer said an increase in the pension age was an "inevitability", but stopped short of confirming the budget will lift it to 70.

Clive Palmer on Sunday said he wouldn't support lifting the pension age, when the Palmer United Party along with other crossbenchers hold the balance of power in the Senate.

"I just couldn't employ Joe Hockey or Tony Abbott at 69, no matter how competent they are," Mr Palmer told ABC Television.

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Palmer trying to buy govt in NT: Giles

Federal MP Clive Palmer has induced three rebel Northern Territory MPs to join his political party. Source: AAP

CLIVE Palmer has been accused of buying his way into Northern Territory politics after three indigenous MPs joined his party a month after walking out on the Giles government.

The Palmer United Party founder declared that Alison Anderson would be chief minister after the next territory election, after announcing that she, Larissa Lee and Francis Xavier Kurrupuwu were now part of the Palmer United Party (PUP).

The three MPs quit the ruling Country Liberal Party at the beginning of April as a result of a rift between Ms Anderson and Chief Minister Adam Giles, saying they wanted to create their own regional political party.

But on Sunday they revealed they had joined the Palmer United fold, with Ms Anderson to be the party's leader in the territory.

Mr Palmer said on Sunday the trio had approached the PUP, not the other way around.

He said his party were in discussions with other territory parliamentarians, and expected them to join the PUP in the next few weeks.

"I think she'll (Ms Anderson) be the chief minister after the next election," Mr Palmer told ABC Television.

"That government is falling apart, it's not really got a good future."

But Mr Giles said the multi-billionaire miner was trying to "buy government" in the NT, and was not concerned that other members of the CLP could join Mr Palmer's party.

"Clive can try and throw his money around as much as he wants but I can tell you the members of the CLP, the Country Liberals, are not for sale, the Northern Territory's not for sale," he told Sky News.

"And we won't stand up for any of these bullyboy tactics by some rich bloke from the Gold Coast."

Queensland Premier Campbell Newman joined in the criticism of the former Liberal National Party member, saying questions needed to be asked about what cash, jobs and financial support Mr Palmer had offered the three MPs.

Ms Anderson defended her defection, describing the PUP as "the new force in Australian politics".

Asked what was in the PUP deal for the three NT MPs, she said: "I think it gives us comfort, it gives us stability, it gives us a home".

"He's welcomed us, and said that you can come on board with his party, and we're happy to do that," she told ABC Television.

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Search zone for MH370 broadened

The search zone for MH370 has been expanded after an underwater drone found nothing of interest. Source: AAP

THE search area for the missing Malaysia Airlines flight has been expanded after the Bluefin-21 underwater drone found no trace of the passenger jet.

The automated underwater vehicle (AUV) has completed sidescan sonar work in a narrowed-down circular zone 10km in radius, 1584km north west of Perth, which centred on an acoustic ping detected on April 8.

Other man-made acoustic signals were picked up in the vicinity on April 5.

Now on its 15th mission, the Bluefin-21 is combing adjacent areas, the Joint Agency Co-ordination Centre said in a statement on Sunday.

Due to deteriorating weather conditions, the air and surface search for floating debris has been suspended for the day.

On Friday, the AUV was forced to resurface after a software issue that required re-setting.

Last week, Malaysia's Acting Transport Minister Hishammuddin Hussein said more sophisticated and expensive technology would be needed if the Bluefin-21 came up with nothing.

The next phase of the search would require probably submersibles that would be very, very expensive and probably more Bluefin-21s, he said. MH370 vanished en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing on March 8 with 239 people on board.

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Vic govt flags road, transport funds boost

THERE will be more money for Victorian roads and public transport in the upcoming state budget, the government says.

Treasurer Michael O'Brien said the government will spend an additional $130 million in road works of four years, with $80m to go on resealing and maintenance and $50m for capital restoration.

He also flagged spending increases for public transport, but would not go into detail.

"There will be significant boost to public transport as well in the budget but we'll leave those for another day," Mr O'Brien told reporters on Saturday.

"There'll be further announcements about road work down the track."

He said the additional funding, announced in one of Melbourne's growth areas in the city's north, meant scheduled maintenance projects would be able to be brought forward.

"(This is )terrific news for people in Melbourne's growing areas such as here in Mernda where we're seeing massive population growth and we need to see roads upgraded," Mr O'Brien said.

The government says the announcement brings its road management budget to more than half a billion dollars for 2014-15.

Opposition leader Daniel Andrews said under the Coalition government, road funding had been up one year and down the next.

"The government's simply putting back a portion of the money they've cut away from important road resurfacing," Mr Andrews said.

"Inconsistent road funding and savage cutbacks seen particularly in road resurfacing makes roads less safe."

He said Labor had proposed an annual allocation of $125m additional funding for the regions and metropolitan Melbourne over eight years.

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Three survive car's 'spin' on Vic slope

THREE men have escaped with their lives after their ute overturned and rolled over itself several hundred metres down a steep slope in Victoria's Alpine region.

The men were attempting to drive up a track at Longley Road, Porepunkah on Saturday morning when they lost traction with the vehicle rolling over itself for up to 400-500m, an Ambulance Victoria spokesman said.

Police say the men had been driving a 4WD utility vehicle up a fire track.

A 17-year-old male driver suffered pelvic and arm injuries and was airlifted to the Royal Melbourne Hospital where he remains in a serious but stable condition.

An 18-year-old man, who was airlifted to The Alfred, is in a critical condition after suffering head and chest injuries.

A third man, whose age is unknown, was taken to Wangaratta Hospital with minor injuries and is in a stable condition.

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