Call for release of Liberal donation audit

AN audit of Liberal Party donations in the wake of damaging slush fund allegations needs to be released publicly, the NSW opposition says.

The call comes after another political head rolled this week as the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) probed party donations.

Police Minister Mike Gallacher resigned from his plum role on Friday after he was implicated in a Liberal Party slush fund scheme.

It was two weeks after Barry O'Farrell resigned from the state's top job over an undeclared, gifted bottle of wine.

NSW Liberal party director Tony Nutt is leading an audit into the party's political donations.

But Opposition Leader John Robertson says the results need not be only for Liberal eyes.

"Tony Nutt is a political operative from way back," he told reporters on Saturday.

"Tony Nutt is someone who has been involved in the activities of the Liberal Party for years and years and years.

"The only way someone can have confidence in that audit is if it is publicly released so everyone can see the process that was put in place to look at these donations."

Mr Robertson, whose own party was dragged through the mud after adverse ICAC findings over coal mine approvals, said he understood why people would question the motives of every politician in NSW.

He said he wanted to work with Mr Baird to put an end to what was playing out at the ICAC.

"I want to see Mike Baird not simply talk tough but the steps to end the scandal and put in place measures that are going to give the public confidence," he said.

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Alarm saves Qld girl from deliberate fire

A smoke alarm has helped a teenage girl escape a house fire in Queensland. Source: AAP

A TEENAGE girl has escaped a house fire that may have been deliberately lit in central Queensland.

The fire started at a home in Bundaberg just before midnight on Friday.

A smoke alarm woke a 15-year-old girl, who managed to get out of the house just in time.

Police believe Chad Mclean Hunter, 32, may be able to assist them with their investigations and have called for him to come forward.

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TV veteran Efrem Zimbalist Jr dies aged 95

EFREM Zimbalist Jr, the son of famous musical parents who established his own name in the long-running television series 77 Sunset Strip and even the even longer running TV hit The F.B.I., has died at age 95.

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Hughes' victims tell of suffering

The victims of Hey Dad! star Robert Hughes have descried how his abuse continues to haunt them. Source: AAP

ONE of the victims of disgraced Hey Dad! star Robert Hughes says she was so badly affected by his abuse, it shaped her decision not to have children.

"He made me think that the world was a cold, evil place," she said in a statement at Hughes' sentencing hearing on Friday.

"I never want to risk having a kid in case they go through what I did."

Almost a month ago Hughes was found guilty of 10 charges relating to the sexual and indecent assault of young girls in the 1980s and 1990s.

The woman, who met Hughes on the set of the popular TV show, was one of four victims to tell the Sydney District Court on Friday how the actor's abuse had left an indelible mark on their lives.

One woman is afraid of the dark, another is battling eating disorders.

One of the women, who was assaulted by the actor multiple times before she was eight years old, said in a statement read by her father that the effect has been "immeasurable".

"Twenty-eight years later I am still scared of what this man could do to hurt me again."

Another victim said she hoped Hughes would "suffer for years" like her and her family, adding: "I wish you nothing but misery".

Psychiatrist Dr Olav Neilssen said Hughes will deny he sexually and indecently assaulted young girls until his death.

"My prediction is that Mr Hughes will deny these offences to the grave but I don't think that will affect his recidivism," he said.

In written submissions, Hughes's lawyer Greg Walsh argued that the 65-year-old's age should be taken into consideration, as "each year of the sentence represents a substantial portion of the period of life which is left to him".

He said Hughes has also been punished by the "enormous and constant amount of adverse publicity" which has resulted in a "truly exceptional" amount of public humiliation.

Hughes's long-term partner, theatrical agent Robyn Gardiner attested to this in an affidavit filed to court, saying the actor had become "quite distressed" by the reports.

She argued that a large portion of the media reporting amounted to the "vilification of Robert as a human being" and that it had "ostracised him from society".

"The conviction of Robert was truly devastating," she added.

But while accepting the high degree of media scrutiny, Crown prosecutor Gina O'Rourke submitted a significant period of imprisonment was warranted.

He will be sentenced by Judge Peter Zahra on May 16.

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Kraft's profit rises on cost-cutting

Last updated: May 02, 2014

KRAFT has reported higher profit for its first quarter as cost-cutting helped offset a decline in revenue.

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'I've never seen anything so cowardly'

THEY'RE the words of a 64-year-old man kicked unconscious at a Brisbane pub because his attacker thought him "too old" to be out. The 25-year-old has been sentenced.

Nervous breakdown claims MP

EMBATTLED MP David Gibson is quitting politics at the next election, saying recent controversy has triggered a nervous breakdown.

New warning for severe storms

UPDATE: A fast-moving line of storms should sweep through Brisbane in the next 40 minutes.

'Name and shame' teen loses appeal

THE first child to be named by the Queensland Court of Appeal under new ``name and shame'' legislation has failed in a bid to appeal his sentence.

Mental scars for insulation expert

A WHISTLEBLOWER inside the former Rudd Government's home insulation program says he was bullied and intimidated so much it hurt his mental health.

'I've never seen anything so cowardly'

THEY'RE the words of a 64-year-old man kicked unconscious at a Brisbane pub because his attacker thought him "too old" to be out. The 25-year-old has been sentenced.

How to spot a drug house

IS SOMEONE cooking something they shouldn't be in a property near you? Here are the key signs your tenants or neighbours could be running a drug lab.

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Baird govt rocked by ICAC allegations

NSW Police Minister Mike Gallacher has stood down following evidence at a corruption inquiry. Source: AAP

NEWLY minted premier Mike Baird vowed to clean up NSW politics, but the corruption watchdog might do the job for him.

Toppled police minister Mike Gallacher became the third cabinet member and sixth Liberal MP to be sidelined from two Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) probes into NSW politics.

Two weeks after being installed as premier when Barry O'Farrell became ICAC's biggest scalp, Mr Baird has inherited a desperate crisis and faces a job possibly even harder than governing NSW.

"I will take every action possible to clean up politics in NSW," he said on Friday as he announced he had no choice but to accept Mr Gallacher's resignation because of the serious allegations levelled at him.

The leader of the upper house with a previous blemish-free reputation was seen as one of Mr Baird's best assets in his bid for a clean government, with an election due in March next year.

But Mr Gallacher was forced to resign after ICAC heard allegations the frontbencher had helped former energy minister Chris Hartcher funnel banned donations from former coal magnate Nathan Tinkler's Buildev to Liberal Party coffers before the 2011 NSW election.

Counsel assisting, Geoffrey Watson SC, said Mr Gallacher introduced Buildev executive Darren Williams, with whom he had a close and longstanding relationship, to Hartcher staffer Tim Koelma, who set up alleged slush fund EightByFive.

"It was through him that the two of you hatched a corrupt scheme to make donations to the Liberal Party using the EightByFive business," Mr Watson put to Mr Williams.

"No," the witness replied.

Mr Williams is accused of helping arrange $66,000 in payments in return for favourable decisions about a lucrative coal terminal proposal at Newcastle, which he agreed was worth "a fortune" to Mr Tinkler.

"You were paying good money to get good access to politicians," Mr Watson said.

"I always had good access to politicians," Mr Williams replied.

"You had them on tap," Mr Watson pressed on.

"You could ring them any time for a favour."

NSW electoral funding laws have banned property developers making political donations since 2009.

Mr Hartcher and fellow Liberal MPs Chris Spence, Darren Webber and Marie Ficcara have already left the party and shifted to the cross benches amid corruption allegations.

It has been a horror honeymoon for the new premier, who took the state's top when Mr O'Farrell was caught out over a $3000 bottle of wine gifted to him by another alleged EightByFive donor, Nick Di Girolamo.

Mr Gallacher said he was disappointed at the allegations.

"I have spent my entire professional life fighting corruption and crime," the former police officer said on Friday.

Asked if he denied the allegations, Mr Gallacher told reporters: "I don't even know what the allegation is.

"All I've heard this morning is that I've had a corrupt, longstanding relationship.

"I've yet to see what the allegation is, but I don't intend to have the premier and the parliamentary team diverted by this."

It is believed Mr Gallacher's lawyers were warned their client could be in ICAC's sights only on Friday morning.

Attorney-General Brad Hazzard will act as police and emergency services minister until a new minister is appointed.

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China's Xi vows action after rail attacks

China's president has ordered a crackdown after a stabbing spree and explosion at a railway station. Source: AAP

CHINESE President Xi Jinping has ordered a crackdown after a stabbing spree and explosion at a railway station in the restive Muslim-majority region of Xinjiang left three people dead and 79 wounded, state media says.

The violence came as Xi was wrapping up what state media characterised as an "inspection tour" of the volatile region in China's far west, during which he had called for a "strike-first" strategy to fight terrorism.

"The battle to combat violence and terrorism will not allow even a moment of slackness, and decisive actions must be taken to resolutely suppress the terrorists' rampant momentum," Xi said in comments published early Thursday by the official Xinhua news agency.

Xinhua earlier said attackers slashed people with knives and set off explosives among baggage at the southern railway station in Xinjiang's capital Urumqi on Wednesday evening.

The agency called it a "violent terrorist attack", though so far no particular group has been blamed. In the past, China has fingered what it calls religious extremists with support from outside groups, but is careful not to blame the region's ethnic Uighurs in general.

The mayhem came just two months after machete-wielding attackers rampaged through a railway station in the southern Chinese city of Kunming, killing 29 people and wounding 143 in what many in China dubbed the country's "9/11".

Dilxat Raxit, a spokesman for exile group the World Uighur Congress, citing local sources, claimed more than 100 Uighurs were arrested in the aftermath of Wednesday's attack.

"Uighurs struggling between despair and survival expect Xi Jinping to come to East Turkestan to give constructive suggestions on improving the turbulent situation," he said in an email, using the term for the region favoured by exile groups.

"However, the fact is Beijing continues encouraging armed suppression of Uighurs," he wrote.

Xinjiang is a vast and nominally autonomous region where Uighurs are the largest ethnic group, though decades of migration to the area by China's dominant Han majority has fostered tensions.

The area is periodically hit by deadly clashes that authorities blame on terrorists but which rights groups and analysts say are driven by cultural and religious repression as well as economic disparities.

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Cyclist killed on main Sydney road

Last updated: May 01, 2014

A CYCLIST has been fatally struck by a bus on a main road in Sydney's north shore.

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Blast on Indian train kills one

TWIN bombs planted on a train killed one person and wounded at least nine others in the southern Indian port of Chennai.

In the latest attack during ongoing national elections, the low-intensity blasts occurred in carriages of an overnight train from Bangalore as it pulled into Chennai central station after 7am (0130 GMT).

A 22-year-old woman working at IT outsourcing firm TCS was killed when one of the devices that had been placed underneath her seat exploded, said Rakesh Misra, general manager of the southern region for Indian Railways.

"At least two people have suffered grievous injuries and seven have minor injuries," Misra told reporters at the scene.

"Civil police ... are investigating what kind of bomb it was and why anyone would have placed the bomb."

Security forces cordoned off the blood-splattered platform where a large crowd of onlookers and delayed passengers gathered, while searches by bomb detection teams were stepped up in other stations.

Chennai police chief JK Tripathi said they were yet to detain any suspects, despite media reports of one or two people being questioned over the crude explosives.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh condemned the attack, saying "such barbaric acts targeting innocent men, women and children only highlight the desperation and cowardice of those responsible".

Multiple low-intensity explosions are typically the hallmark of the Indian Mujahideen, a home-grown militant network thought to have been weakened by the recent arrests of senior figures.

Sixteen people were killed in February 2013 when bombs strapped to bicycles exploded in the southern city of Hyderabad in an attack blamed on the network.

India's election, which ends on May 16, has seen repeated attacks by Maoist rebels based in the forests of central India who have killed at least 25 so far, according to an AFP tally.

One panic-stricken passenger told the Press Trust of India (PTI) news agency that he saw three to four people "writhing in pain" after the blast on the train, which was set to terminate in the remote northeastern city of Guwahati.

The injured have been taken to the Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital in Chennai.

The dead woman was identified as an employee of Bangalore-based TCS. The company said it was "deeply shocked and saddened at this unfortunate loss of life of our colleague in this tragic incident".

Her grandmother, named as Rajalakshmi, told PTI she was travelling home and was set to marry in another two months.

"She was to come home today. But now only her body is coming", she was quoted as saying.

Security has been tightened across India as the country holds its six-week general election.

Voting has already taken place in most major cities, including Chennai, which went to the polls last week.

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Gonski steps up as ANZ chairman

Respected businessman David Gonski (pic) is set to replace John Morschel as ANZ chairman on May 1. Source: AAP

RESPECTED businessman David Gonski takes control in ANZ's boardroom on Thursday, replacing the bank's chairman of four years John Morschel.

Mr Gonski was appointed to the ANZ board in December with the view to taking over from Mr Morschel when he retired on April 30.

"It has been an honour to have served as an ANZ director since 2004 and to have been chairman of ANZ over the past four years," Mr Morschel said.

Mr Gonski, a former chairman of the federal government's Future Fund, previously served as a director for ANZ between 2002 and 2007.

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Tenants sign on for Barangaroo tower

Last updated: April 30, 2014

PLANNING for the tallest office tower at Sydney's Barangaroo development will commence after the developer secured two tenants for the 49-storey building.

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Sinkhole severs state's artery

Tom Snowdon A 2M sinkhole has closed Queensland's main highway for the night as authorities assess the situation.

This woman has the weirdest job

SHE is considered a heroine in her area. A woman in China swats flies eight hours a day, seven days a week. Why would she do such a thing?

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Gold dazzles at refurbished Perth Mint

Perth Mint has opened a new exhibition with the most valuable coin in the world as its centrepiece. Source: AAP

THE biggest, heaviest and most valuable coin in the world is the centrepiece of a new permanent exhibition at the refurbished Perth Mint.

The colossal coin is one tonne of 99.99 per cent pure gold, worth more than $50 million.

Measuring 80 centimetres in diameter and more than 12cm deep, it depicts a red kangaroo surrounded by rays of sunlight.

And it sits atop its very own vault, which swallows it up each night when the mint closes.

West Australian Premier Colin Barnett said the coin would be a big drawcard for the Mint, which has undergone a $5.5 million redevelopment in two stages, the biggest revamp it has had since it was founded 115 years ago.

Mr Barnett said he expected visitor numbers, which already nudge 80,000 a year, would rise dramatically.

The coin was recently exhibited around the world and has increased already strong sales of bullion coins from the Mint.

"It achieved its objective - we are selling more gold bullion coins," chief executive Ed Harbuz said.

Also on display at the mint are massive gold nuggets, including the world's second biggest, Newmont's Normandy nugget.

Perth Mint was established as a branch of Britain's Royal Mint in 1899.

Its primary functions of refining gold from WA's eastern goldfields and striking gold coinage continues today but at its refinery near Perth Airport, with precious metal coins struck onsite at the Mint.

The Mint also issues Australia's official bullion and commemorative coins.

In 2012/13, it refined more than 300 tonnes of precious metals, reported close to $3 billion worth of holdings in its depository, and sold 4.3 million gold, silver and platinum coins.

It is one of only four mints in the world that produces bullion coins.

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Hospital attack kills 22 in C Africa

BANGUI, Central African Republic, April 28 AFP - At least 22 people including three staff members of medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres have been killed during an attack by gunmen on a Central African hospital, in the latest atrocity to hit the violence-plagued country.

The brutal attack in the northwest was blamed on the mostly Muslim rebels known as the Seleka, whose coup in March last year unleashed a vicious cycle of sectarian violence.

"Armed men from the ex-Seleka and of Fula ethnicity on Saturday afternoon attacked a hospital supported by MSF in the region of Nanga Boguila, killing at least 22 people, including three Central African employees of MSF and leaving a dozen wounded," an officer from the African-led MISCA peacekeeping force told AFP on Monday.

MSF confirmed the death of its three employees, without giving further details.

The gunmen had stormed into the building as local representatives and MSF employees held a meeting, the MISCA officer said.

"The assailants first opened fire at a group of people, gunning down four of them. Then they went to the hospital where they killed 15 other people and three members of MSF.

"They took computers and several other assets, breaking down doors probably in search for cash," added the officer.

The Seleka rebels were ordered to disarm by their leader Michel Djotodia several months after they installed him in power in a coup. But some ignored orders and went on a killing, raping and pillaging rampage.

Mostly Christian communities then formed "anti-balaka" vigilante forces to wreak revenge against Muslims, usually targeting innocent people.

Djotodia resigned in January after failing to quell the violence that has claimed thousands of lives and displaced a quarter of the country's 4.6 million population. And today, extremists of the Seleka alliance actively encourage de facto partition.

African and French peacekeepers, backed up recently by an EU force, have been struggling to curb the fighting ripping the country apart.

"It is a region that is not completely secured because our forces (are not large enough) to be deployed in other sites than the main cities like Bossangoa," said the MISCA officer, referring to a city about 100 kilometres from the scene of the MSF attack.

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Australia stuck below 3 pct growth: IMF

The International Monetary Fund have urged Treasurer Joe Hockey not to go too hard in his budget. Source: AAP

THE International Monetary Fund (IMF) has sent Treasurer Joe Hockey a timely reminder not to go too hard in his first budget.

In its latest regional report, the IMF continues to expect the Australian economy will struggle to grow at a pace to relieve pressure on the unemployment rate, which stands close to a decade high of just under six per cent.

Since October last year, the Washington-based institution has downgraded its Australian growth forecast to 2.6 per cent in 2014 and 2.7 per cent in 2015.

It had previously expected growth of 2.8 and 2.9 per cent, respectively.

"Australia's economy is likely to grow below trend as the investment phase of the mining boom passes its peak and begins to decline," the IMF said in its Regional Economic Outlook for Asia and the Pacific released in Hong Kong on Monday.

The economy needs to grow above three per cent a year to keep unemployment in check.

Mr Hockey previously has promised his May 13 budget won't hinder tentative signs of economic recovery, suggesting spending cuts will occur in the outer years of what he has described as a 10-year plan.

In contrast, the IMF has upgraded its New Zealand growth forecasts in the past six months as its post-earthquake reconstruction gathers steam, along with strengthening domestic demand and exports.

It expects the NZ economy to grow at 3.3 per cent in 2014 and three per cent in 2015, up from respective forecasts of three per cent and 2.4 per cent previously.

More broadly, the IMF says Asia should experience robust growth throughout 2014 and 2015, and be among the global growth leaders.

The region should benefit from improved prospects among the world's advanced economies, while facing both new and old risks.

These include geopolitical uncertainty over Ukraine, the exit from unconventional monetary policy in the US - otherwise known as tapering - and the impact of a low inflation environment in the euro area.

"Growth in China and Japan could also fall below expectations, with negative spillovers from the rest of the region," it said.

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