Cabbie car-jacked in NSW Hunter region

A taxi driver has been beaten up, robbed and car-jacked in the NSW Hunter region. Source: AAP

A TAXI driver had his nose broken during a terrifying ordeal in which he was beaten up, robbed, kidnapped and car-jacked by a drunken passenger in NSW's Hunter region.

The cabbie picked up a man in Kurri Kurri on Saturday morning and was asked to drive to Newcastle.

Police say that on the way, the passenger asked to be driven to a caravan park in Maitland to collect money for the fare.

Once at the caravan park, the driver and passenger went inside a cabin where it's alleged the passenger pulled out a knife, kicked the taxi driver in the head and took his wallet.

The passenger then allegedly forced the taxi driver into the passenger seat, cut the wires to the taxi meter, radio and CCTV system; and started speeding north on the Pacific Highway.

Police used road spikes to stop the taxi after detecting it travelling at 185km/h on the Pacific Highway at Moorland.

A 28-year-old man was arrested and taken to Taree Police Station, where a breath-analysis test returned an reading of 0.106.

He is still being questioned and is expected to be charged later on Saturday.

The taxi driver was taken to Manning Base Hospital suffering swelling, abrasions and bleeding to his face, and a broken nose.

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Oprah helps Barbara Walters say goodbye

Oprah Winfrey and Hillary Clinton have surprised Barbara Walters as she taped her final edition of The View.

OPRAH Winfrey and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton have surprised Barbara Walters as the legendary American newswoman taped her final edition of The View to end a five-decade career on television.

Actor Michael Douglas, a longtime friend and frequent subject for Walters' interviews, also dropped by for the tribute.

Looking smart in a cream-coloured blazer and a black skirt, the 84-year-old Walters was presiding over a studio audience of friends, colleagues and fans on hand to witness a bit of history.

Although she will retain a behind-the-scenes role as executive producer of the talk show she created 17 years ago, she is ending her daily on-air involvement, while limiting her appearances to the occasional story or interview.

Oprah has helped journalist Barbara Walters tape her final edition of the View and retire from TV.

"I can't believe this day has come, and I can't believe it's for real," Clinton told Walters, who began her career in 1962.

Typically, Walters couldn't let Clinton get away without fielding the question on so many minds: Is she running for president in 2016?

"I am running," smiled Clinton. "Around the park."

A bit later, Douglas brought the subject up again with Walters.

"If Hillary runs," he said, "I bet you'd be a great vice president."

Some of the best moments happened during commercial breaks, never to be seen by viewers. Then audience members could snap photos and interact with Walters and her co-panellists (Whoopi Goldberg, Sherri Shepherd and Jenny McCarthy).

The audience erupted at the sight of Winfrey, who told Walters, "You're the reason I wanted to be in television."

"You shattered the glass ceiling for so many women," said Winfrey, who then brought on a startling parade of them, some two dozen prominent on-air women including Diane Sawyer, Katie Couric, Robin Roberts, Gayle King, Connie Chung and Joan Lunden.

"You are my legacy," Walters, visibly moved, said to them as they crowded around her onstage.

The hour had its comic twist: In a pre-taped segment, Walters (who, after all, has interviewed everybody else) lobbed some questions at herself, in the person of former Saturday Night Live cast member Cheri Oteri doing a spot-on Walters imitation.

Walters brought the hour to a close with a heartfelt statement looking back with amazement on her career.

But a more telling moment took place during a break, as the throng of women she had paved the way for posed with her for a group portrait.

"I have to remember this on the bad days," Walters said quietly, "because this is the best."

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Blazes lit in Melbourne's botanic gardens

A 100-YEAR-OLD pavilion was damaged and two others destroyed by an arsonist in Melbourne's Royal Botanic Gardens.

Firefighters were called to a large blaze in the gardens just before 6am on Saturday and arrived to find two more fires burning.

Police said the arsonist was potentially in the gardens at the same time that firefighters arrived.

"It's too early to say, but it appears that they are all linked because obviously they were all in very close time frames," detective senior constable Megan MacInnes told reporters.

Professor Tim Entwisle, chief executive of the Botanic Gardens, said two buildings were destroyed and another significantly burned.

"Some plants were damaged doing this as well, which for us in the botanic gardens is just as distressing," Prof Entwisle said.

He said the Lakeview rest house is 100 years old and had been damaged, while the William Tell rest house had been burned down.

A toilet block was also burned down.

Prof Entwisle said security patrols spotted the fire, and said it was tough to keep people from getting in at night.

"It's very hard - without putting razor wire around the Botanic Garden - to absolutely keep people out," he said.

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Police hunt two sex predators in Melbourne

A man has tried to sexually assault a woman in the inner Melbourne suburb of Brunswick. Source: AAP

THE hunt is on for two sex predators who attacked three women in the same Melbourne suburb where Jill Meagher died.

Police say an assault on Friday night in Brunswick is not linked to two similar attacks a week earlier.

A 21-year-old woman was walking through a park at 8pm on Hope St in Brunswick West on Friday when grabbed from behind.

The assault continued until she called out to a passing cyclist and the attacker stopped and ran.

Another woman has been assaulted in Brunswick, Melbourne overnight as police hunt two serial predators.

Detective Acting Senior Sergeant Michael Phyland said on Saturday police would like to speak to the cyclist and anyone else who might have seen the incident.

It came after another man grabbed two woman from behind and dragged them down side streets in Brunswick in the early hours of May 10.

Both were able to fight him off and escape.

Jill Meagher was raped and murdered after being snatched from a Brunswick street in 2012.

Sgt Phyland said men and women should be careful when walking at night in the suburb.

"Where you can, take well lit areas, be aware of your surroundings, take the safest path that you can," he told reporters.

Sgt Phyland said descriptions of the two men were different and the attacks were not linked.

The Friday night offender is described as Caucasian, with a medium to solid build, aged in his 30s, with dark hair, blood-shot eyes and a beard.

Police have released CCTV footage of the other man wanted for the May 10 attacks.

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Israel designs hi-tech fin to save turtle

A prosthetic fin has been built to save the life of an injured sea turtle in Israel. Source: AAP

A BADLY injured sea turtle's prospects are looking up - thanks to a new prosthetic fin designed by an Israeli team and modelled on the wings of a US fighter jet.

The green sea turtle, named "Hofesh," the Hebrew word for "freedom," was caught in a fishing net off Israel's Mediterranean coast in early 2009.

With his two left flippers badly wounded, rescuers had to amputate, leaving him with a pair of stumps that made it difficult to swim.

Yaniv Levy, director of Israel's Sea Turtle Rescue Centre, said on Saturday Hofesh was initially fitted with a diver's fin but it provided little relief and he bumped into things as he tried to swim.

Shlomi Gez, an industrial design student at Jerusalem's Hadassah College, read about the animal on the internet and wanted to help.

He designed a prosthetic based on a fish's dorsal fin. The contraption provided some improvement but Hofesh still had trouble breathing and rising to the surface.

Then, inspired by the design of Lockheed Martin Corp's F-22 Raptor warplane, Gez designed a new prosthetic with two fins.

The device, somewhat resembling the aircraft's wings, was strapped onto Hofesh's back on Thursday, allowing him to move easily around his tank.

"I discovered it worked better than one fin on the back," Gez explained.

"With two fins, he keeps relatively balanced, even above the water."

Levy said Hofesh will never be able to return to the wild.

But he shares a tank with a blind female turtle named Tsurit, and researchers are optimistic the pair will mate, potentially adding to the local population of the endangered green sea turtles.

He said it is difficult to say exactly how old the two turtles are but they are estimated to be between 20 and 25 and approaching the age of sexual maturity.

"We have great plans for this guy," Levy said.

"They will never go back to the wild but their offspring will be released the minute they hatch and go immediately into the sea and live normally in the wild," he added.

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Truck driver's arrest sparks SA drug bust

THE arrest of a truck driver in NSW has led to a drug bust in South Australia.

Police on Wednesday stopped a truck on the Sturt Highway, near Gol Gol, and found six bags of cannabis weighing about 160 grams, leading them to charge the 42-year-old driver.

Information about the arrest was shared with South Australia Police (SAPOL).

Members of SAPOL's Heavy Vehicle Enforcement Section on Friday searched the truck driver's home in Albert Park, SA, and allegedly located about two kilograms of dried cannabis, an amount of cash and a number of firearms.

The man was rearrested and charged with trafficking cannabis and firearms offences.

NSW Police Traffic and Highway Patrol Operations Commander, Superintendent Stuart Smith, said officers will continue to target the heavy vehicle industry to curb drivers and operators who break the law.

" ... whether that's through unsafe driving practices or criminal activities such as transporting drugs across borders," Supt Smith said in a statement.

The man was granted conditional bail to appear in Wentworth Local Court on July 8.

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Tinkler faces ICAC over pollie donations

Nathan Tinkler tells ICAC, he gives to political parties because he's a great guy. Source: AAP

NATHAN Tinkler has told NSW's donation rort inquiry he gives to political parties because he's "such a great guy", not because he thinks his largesse will buy favours.

The Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) is probing more than $400,000 in payments to alleged NSW Liberal slush fund EightByFive, including $66,000 by the former mining mogul's racehorse business, Patinack Farm.

Counsel assisting the inquiry Geoffrey Watson SC alleges the money was funnelled through Patinack from another Tinkler business, development firm Buildev, and that Mr Tinkler was trying to win support for a lucrative coal loader on the Newcastle foreshore.

Mr Tinkler told the ICAC on Friday he "didn't know about Eighty By Five" until the company hit the headlines, courtesy of the inquiry that has now toppled four Liberal MPs and two NSW ministers.

Nor did he accept suggestions he arranged for two employees and their partners to donate $5000 apiece to the Nationals to sidestep laws that cap individuals' electoral donations.

But he has admitted to a $45,000 personal donation to the Nationals and handing over $50,000 to a Newcastle group manoeuvring to oust then-ALP MP Jodi McKay at the 2011 NSW election.

Mr Tinkler also signed off on $53,000 in payments to another alleged Liberal front group, the Canberra-based Free Enterprise Foundation.

"You share it around," he said.

Mr Watson didn't buy it, asking: "Why would you give that away if you weren't getting something in return for it?"

"Because I'm such a great guy," the witness quipped.

"I've never had a political favour in my life."

He also said he was "quite annoyed" when he learned the financially troubled Patinack had been spending thousands each month on an EightByFive retainer, ostensibly for marketing services and political advice.

But Mr Watson said it was a crooked deal designed to subvert NSW electoral funding laws, which ban developers making political donations, and signed off by Mr Tinkler himself.

"You knew, Mr Tinkler, didn't you, that Buildev was paying money into a campaign associated with Liberal Party politicians and funding it under a subterfuge," he said.

"No I didn't," Mr Tinkler replied.

Emails obtained by ICAC show Buildev executive Darren Williams was seeking advice in 2010 on "which entity" to give Mike Gallacher - the former NSW police minister allegedly in on the scam - and was told by his colleague David Sharpe Mr Tinkler should have the final say.

Phone records show Mr Williams rang Mr Tinkler four minutes later.

Asked on Friday what they might have discussed, Mr Tinkler joked: "Probably footy scores."

During two hotly anticipated hours in the witness box, Mr Tinkler was both feisty and playful - though at lunchtime was heard to remark: "This is some of the most boring s*** I've ever seen."

However, he was emphatic when questioned over claims he offered former Newcastle MP Ms McKay a bribe to win her support for the coal loader - and that when she turned him down, he funded a leaflet campaign to "destroy" her.

"Definitely not," he said.

"I never took this to her, I never asked for her support."

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Land Council upset over NT township leases

THE federal government is trying to snatch back land from Aboriginal people by pressuring them to sign 99-year township leases, the Northern Land Council says.

The NLC is clashing with federal Indigenous Affairs Minister Nigel Scullion over what it says is an attempt to convince traditional owners to sign over their lands and associated rights.

Township leases provide a surety to banks and give indigenous communities the opportunity to borrow against their land to buy their own homes and businesses.

Land councils serve to negotiate with the government on their behalf.

However, the NLC says leases signed under section 19A of the Land Rights Act designate an executive leaseholder to hold the rights to the land on behalf of the government and can make decisions without traditional owners' consent.

The NLC want the provision repealed in favour of the broader section 19, which offers traditional owners the same economic benefits of the lease while retaining full decision-making powers over their land.

"It's one thing to talk about normalising townships, it's another thing to talk about taking rights away," NLC CEO Joe Morrison said on Friday.

The NLC accused Senator Scullion of trying to divide and conquer communities by pushing section 19A township leases.

The community of Gunbalanya in East Arnhem Land is negotiating a 99-year lease with the government but NLC executive member John Christophersen told Mr Scullion he had a petition against it signed by 400 people, as well as eight of the 13 traditional owners.

"People are very concerned about it and want it to go away," Mr Morrison said.

"One can surmise that this is a land grab.

"Forty years ago no one really saw the value of Aboriginal land - it was wasted land, it was the domain of buffaloes and pigs.

"Now we understand Aboriginal lands are very valuable and everyone wants a slice, and we want to make sure we maintain control."

Senator Scullion said the NLC was playing power games.

"This is about a perceived loss of power ... (but) traditional owners are completely in control," he said.

Gunbalanya will decide whether or not to sign up to a 99-year lease later this year.

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Donation law concerns cost me job: Davis

CHRIS Davis says he was sacked as Queensland's assistant health minister partly because he raised concerns about changes to political donation laws.

Premier Campbell Newman sacked Dr Davis this week, saying his decision to speak out against some aspects of the government's agenda had breached the Westminster principle of cabinet solidarity.

Dr Davis had publicly raised concerns about reforms to the Crime and Misconduct Commission and new work contracts for doctors.

On Friday, he told the ABC he believed there was another factor in his dismissal.

He said he had raised with the premier his concerns about the government's move to ease restrictions on political donations, and he believed that played a part in the decision to dismiss him.

He cited revelations at the NSW corruption inquiry as proof powerful interest are involved in politics and it would be naive to think similar forces weren't at play in Queensland.

"You only need to look across the border to NSW to actually see under current arrangements how there are a number of very powerful interests in any political system," he said.

"We have at the moment on the table a great relaxation of caps and donations and so on, just at the same time the new premier of NSW, Mike Baird is actually saying that he needs to nail shut the back door to government because it is actually causing so much damage.

"You don't make an investment in business unless you make a return on it. You'd be naive to think that the political gene pool changed when you crossed the border from NSW to Queensland."

Dr Davis said he was not offered the chance to offer his resignation when he met with the premier this week, and instead was sacked.

He said he believed there'd been a number of complaints made against him, and the premier felt compelled to send a message.

"I think it was a signal on a number of fronts. I think it was not just a technicality of the cabinet solidarity message, I think I had trod on some very powerful toes," Dr Davis said.

"It doesn't sting me so much but if you look at social media there has been a lot of concern about what sort of message it sends in terms of our style of government in Queensland, our tolerance, I guess, of democracy."

Dr Davis did not say if he would contest the next election as a member of the Liberal National Party, saying his pre-selection was a matter for the party.

A spokesman for the premier told the ABC Dr Davis never raised any concerns about electoral donation laws with either himself or Attorney-General Jarrod Bleijie and any claim that he did was completely wrong.

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Trial for academic over indecency claims

Criminologist Paul Wilson is ordered to stand trial for allegations he indecently treated two girls. Source: AAP

QUEENSLAND criminologist Paul Wilson has been ordered to stand trial over allegations he indecently treated two girls in the 1970s.

The former head of criminology at the Gold Coast's Bond University was on Friday committed to stand trial on six charges of indecent treatment of girls under 17.

After three days of witness testimony Brisbane Magistrate John Costello ruled there was enough evidence to commit the 73-year-old to trial.

Wilson pleaded not guilty to the charges.

The trial is expected to take place in the District Court in Brisbane at a date to be set.

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Johnston fights for more funds for defence

DEFENCE Minister David Johnston needed to convince colleagues defence would be unable to mount short-notice missions such as its search for the missing Malaysian airliner if it did not get more cash.

In hard negotiations before the government's expenditure review committee, Senator Johnston made the point that defence would face serious problems if it had to endure more cuts.

As it turned out, defence was a big winner from the tough budget, with an increase of more than six per cent, taking funding to $29.3 billion in 2014/15.

Senator Johnston said finance and treasury officials acknowledged that defence had done it hard in the past five years, losing $16 billion.

"If we had to endure more cuts or absorb measures, there would be serious capability issues and we would be courting substantial difficulties," he told AAP.

Missions such as the ongoing search for Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, which at its peak featured four Orion maritime patrol aircraft and five ships, could only be launched at short notice because these units were maintained at a high level of readiness, he said.

The same applied to aid missions following the Japanese earthquake and the Philippines typhoon.

Most recently, at Christmas, two RAAF transport aircraft were despatched to help the UN peacekeeping mission in South Sudan.

Senator Johnston said it was expensive to maintain the level of readiness needed to be able to launch such missions at short notice.

"Those are the sorts of things we would not be able to do (without sufficient funding) and we would have to tell the national security committee and the prime minister we can't do this because we haven't got the money," he said.

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Uncensored Rudd reveals batts flaws

Kevin Rudd move to expose cabinet discussions about insulation scheme had a short-lived opposition. Source: AAP

OPPOSITION to Kevin Rudd's plan to reveal the innermost secrets of the federal government lasted for a little less than 16 hours.

The former prime minister's 31-page statement to the royal commission into the 2009 home insulation program was initially heavily blacked out or "redacted" at the insistence of government lawyers intent on protecting cabinet confidentiality.

Mr Rudd's lawyer had insisted his client could not tell the truth about the disastrous program that claimed the lives of four young workers if he was not permitted to tell his story in full.

Resistance was strong on Wednesday afternoon but evaporated on Thursday morning, when government lawyer Tom Howe QC said the Commonwealth supported "public ventilation" of everything Mr Rudd wanted to say.

What emerged from the document was Mr Rudd's portrait of the prime minister and his ministers as entirely reliant on the information and advice placed before them by the public service - the people he described at the commission as the "wicketkeepers" of his home insulation scheme.

Starting with the reason for implementing the insulation scheme, Mr Rudd reveals that an all-weekend sitting of senior cabinet ministers - Julia Gillard, Wayne Swan, Lindsay Tanner and himself - in October 2008 was warned that Australia faced recession and a nine per cent unemployment rate if nothing was done to combat the unfolding global financial crisis.

One response was the $2.8 billion home insulation scheme, devised as a make-work scheme to boost the economy.

Much of what was initially redacted from Mr Rudd's statement is simply anything mentioning cabinet processes, however mundane, but some reveal that even after people started dying, no alarm was raised about the program.

Mr Rudd described a briefing system used by the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet to warn cabinet about "any programs going off the rails".

The reports were colour-coded: green for "on track", amber for "maintaining close watch" and red for "in difficulty".

From its July 2009 inception to until February 2010 when its immediate closure was urged, the program was never rated anything other than green for "on track".

Among other details is Mr Rudd's recollection of a January 28, 2009, cabinet meeting that considered the rollout of the Home Insulation Program.

Issues discussed concerned timelines and costs, Mr Rudd says, but workplace safety standards never came up.

The statement also shows a public service task force was set up four days after the February 4, 2010, death of Mitchell Sweeney, who was the last worker to die during the life of the scheme.

On February 17, the taskforce advised Mr Rudd's cabinet committee of senior ministers of "significant program design risks, notably safety risks ... and the need to exit the overall program".

The same day the committee accepted the taskforce's recommendation to terminate the program.

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Abbott hits back over state budget riot

Prime Minister Tony Abbott is confident he can get controversial budget measures through parliament. Source: AAP

PRIME Minister Tony Abbott has told the states they must accept there are "swings and roundabouts" when it comes to federal money.

Angry state and territory leaders have organised a meeting for this Sunday in Sydney to discuss the federal budget's $80 billion cut to school and hospitals funding.

The meeting comes as Labor and the Greens are poised to block many of the federal budget measures, with the government left to horse-trade with new Senate cross benchers after July 1 to pass a new Medicare co-payment and pension and welfare changes.

The next state leader to face an election, Victorian Premier Denis Napthine, said he had a long and strong conversation with Mr Abbott on Thursday about the budget.

"We have from between 2014 and 2017 to absolutely shake the federal government from their top to their bottom so they understand their responsibility to meet their share of public hospital payments," the Liberal premier said.

Mr Abbott told parliament he had made it clear to all the states and territories that in 2017/18 there would be a "lower rate of increase" in funding.

"Not a cut," he said.

Arguing that road funding was boosted in the budget, Mr Abbott said: "As far as the states are concerned there are swings and roundabouts."

Treasurer Joe Hockey backed up the prime minister, saying the states would still receive $400 billion in the six years from 2017 for schools and hospitals once agreements signed with the previous Labor government expire.

"It is not cost-shifting because we don't run the schools or hospitals," he said.

Opposition Leader Bill Shorten accused the prime minister of "deceit", having promised before the election no cuts to health or schools, no new or raised taxes and no changes to pensions.

He said modelling from NATSEM (National Centre for Social and Economic Modelling) showed that some families would lose $6000 a year by 2016 because of budget measures.

Labor would fight for those families.

"If you want an election try us ... bring it on," he said in his budget reply.

Mr Abbott and Mr Hockey admitted getting the budget through the Senate could take some horse-trading, but said Labor should pass the legislation and take responsibility for leaving the books in a mess.

"I've got some advice for Tony Abbott ... why don't you horse-trade away your paid parental leave scheme and leave the pensioners alone," Mr Shorten said.

Labor has yet to decide whether to support a temporary income tax rise for people earning more than $180,000 a year, but it will oppose the Medicare co-payment, pension changes and the fuel tax lift.

Mr Hockey said the $7 Medicare co-payment was only about the cost of two "middies" of beer and much less than the $22 cost of a packet of cigarettes.

The Greens will support the fuel tax rise.

The treasurer rejected a challenge from shadow treasurer Chris Bowen to debate the budget at the National Press Club next week.

Delivering his budget-in-reply speech to parliament on Thursday, Mr Shorten said Labor would oppose deregulated university fees, the Medicare co-payment, the fuel tax rise and hits to pensions and the dole.

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Labor pounce on second staffer conflict

Federal Minister Nigel Scullion is under fire over a staff member cited for conflict of interest. Source: AAP

LABOR has vowed to continue probing a second Abbott government minister over conflict of interest allegations.

William "Smiley" Johnstone resigned as an adviser for Indigenous Affairs Minister Nigel Scullion after it was revealed he was also chief executive and majority shareholder of the Indigenous Development Corporation.

Senator Scullion has defended Mr Johnstone's employment, saying his sole role of devising the school attendance strategy meant his private activities did not create a conflict of interest.

But Opposition Senate Leader Penny Wong says Mr Johnstone's employment showed an "arrogant disregard" for the standards for ministerial staff.

Senator Scullion told the Senate on Thursday there had been "a couple of items that required follow up" in Mr Johnstone's private interests disclosure, filed at the time of his employment.

Five months later, that process was still under way when a media inquiry forced Senator Scullion's office to address the potential conflicts and ask Mr Johnstone to "amend some of his personal affairs".

Mr Johnstone never intended to stay on fulltime and chose to resign, Senator Scullion said.

Senator Wong promised to explore that in more detail.

"The Australian people are entitled to know why not one but two ministers in this chamber happen to have staff who have interest in the portfolio that they administer."

In February, Assistant Health Minister Fiona Nash's staffer Alastair Furnival resigned over conflict of interest allegations.

Mr Furnival had a shareholding in his wife's public relations company, which has links to the junk food industry.

Unlike the case of Mr Furnival, who was accused of ordering the removal of a Health Department healthy food-rating website, there are no allegations Mr Johnstone made calls that affected his private interests.

The Abbott government's revised guidelines for ministerial staffers require divestment from private companies with a direct interest in their minister's portfolio.

The standards also forbid directorship of any company without written agreement of their respective minister and of the Special Minister of State.

Senator Wong asked Special Minister of State Michael Ronaldson if he had provided a written agreement regarding Mr Johnstone's employment on Thursday, which he took on notice.

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Boat turn-back lawful: border commander

THE army general leading Australia's border security crackdown is confident authorities did not commit a people-smuggling offence when turning an asylum seeker boat back to Indonesia this month.

Indonesian navy officers have claimed Australian authorities added three people to an asylum seeker boat before sending it back to their country.

The Australian Federal Police are considering a request to investigate the matter, which legal experts say might constitute a people-smuggling offence under Australian law.

But Lieutenant-General Angus Campbell maintains the boat turn-backs being carried out are consistent with international obligations and domestic law.

"I am confident ... we have taken lawful procedures to conduct operations," the Operation Sovereign Borders commander told an Australian Strategic Policy Institute dinner in Canberra on Thursday.

The federal government has declined to comment on the incident, citing "operational issues".

No people-smuggling ventures to Australia have been successful since late December, but Lt Gen Campbell warned that although the way to Australia was closed, it was not a case of mission accomplished.

"To modify a well-known and very apt phrase, the price of border security is eternal vigilance," he said.

Threats to Australia's border security remain as asylum seekers bide their time in Indonesia, holding out for changes to policy or operations, he said.

He expressed doubt about whether authorities could have reduced arrivals without the turn-back policy.

"There are too many prospective travellers susceptible to believing that Nauru is a town in Australia," Lt Gen Campbell said.

He said desperate smugglers were offering discounted rates and free travel for children.

Lt Gen Campbell said his team was proud to be preventing asylum seekers drowning during dangerous voyages.

Tuesday's budget allocated $480.5 million to establish a new super front-line agency, Border Force Australia, from July 2015, which will absorb Operation Sovereign Borders.

The new agency will replace customs and take on some functions of the immigration department. A commissioner will be appointed to lead the force.

"I look with interest to whoever might be appointed while I'm pursuing other pathways in my life," he said.

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Yahoo snaps up messaging app Blink

YAHOO is buying the mobile messaging app Blink.

Terms of the deal, which was announced on Wednesday on Blink's website, are not being disclosed.

Messages sent through the Blink app self-destruct after a certain amount of time.

The app allows users to send texts, sketches, record audio, make videos and take photos.

Blink will shut down both the iOS and Android versions of the app in the coming weeks before the switchover.

Yahoo, based in Sunnyvale, California, has bought numerous startups since the arrival of CEO Marissa Mayer two years ago as it tries to reverse declining revenue.

The deal follows Facebook's $US19 billion ($A20.56 billion) deal earlier this year for the messaging app WhatsApp.

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Aust tennis great Court helps Ugandans

AUSTRALIAN tennis great Margaret Court has landed in Uganda on a week-long visit to promote the sport in the east African nation.

Court, 71, her husband Barry and tennis coach Matthew Carle were welcomed by hundreds of players when they touched down at Entebbe International Airport on Tuesday night, local time.

"I want to help Uganda nurture its own world champions," the 62-time grand slam title winner said.

Court likened her early life to that of young Ugandans.

"Coming from an underprivileged background, I became a world champion as early as a teenager of 17," she said.

"New champions can be made from places like this."

Tennis coach Robert Muganga said Ugandan players were delighted to host such an important sports personality.

"We are going to learn a lot from her," he said.

Court will help more than 100 children with their tennis skills at coaching clinics during her stay.

Court, who is a Christian minister, will also hold motivational talks at Lugogo tennis court and at Miracle Centre Cathedral in Kampala, where she is expected to preach on Sunday.

Court won 24 singles, 19 doubles and 19 mixed doubles grand slam events during her career in the 1960s and '70s.

In 1970, she became the first woman during the Open era and the second woman in history to win the singles grand slam in all four majors in the same calendar year.

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Gillard's book will be out in October

Former PM Julia Gillard says writing her memoir has been an exhilarating and cathartic experience. Source: AAP

FORMER prime minister Julia Gillard has worked through a special kind of therapy after losing her job: writing a book.

My Story will be published on October 1 by Random House Australia.

Ms Gillard said writing the memoir had been exhilarating and cathartic.

"Sometimes the words flowed quickly and easily," she said on Wednesday.

"On other occasions, days of reflection were needed to work through memories of difficult times and the resilience required during them."

She promises the book will tell the truth about what it's like to be prime minister, what happened to her and why it matters for Australia.

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Italy diplomat denies abuse in Philippines

AN Italian diplomat facing human trafficking and child abuse allegations in the Philippines has denied any wrongdoing.

Daniele Bosio, who has been suspended as Italy's ambassador to Turkmenistan, submitted an affidavit on Wednesday denying the criminal complaints and spoke briefly to reporters for the first time since his arrest on April 5 while vacationing in the Philippines.

Bosio has been detained in a municipal jail in Laguna province south of Manila since being arrested in the company of three boys aged 9-12 at a local resort.

Tears came to Bosio's eyes when more than a dozen children from a Christian school in Manila arrived to show support for him.

He has been giving financial support to the school for several years.

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NSW police officer charged with assault

A NSW police officer has been charged with assaulting a colleague during a domestic dispute.

The female senior constable, attached to a command in the Western Region, was summonsed to court after allegedly assaulting another officer during a domestic dispute.

Police say the charges relate to an incident that occurred on May 3, while the officer was off-duty.

She will appear at Wentworth Local Court on July 7.

The officer has been suspended from duty with pay.

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Budget attacks Queensland, says govt

Queensland's premier says he'll attack the federal budget if it's a raw deal for his state. Source: AAP

QUEENSLAND will benefit from billions of dollars worth of infrastructure funding in the federal budget, but the state government says changes to health and education are an attack on the state's finances.

More than $9 billion will be spent on projects including the Bruce Highway, the Melbourne to Brisbane inland railway, venues for the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games in 2018 and the Toowoomba Second Range Crossing.

"These projects are essential projects for Queensland and will help us to grow our four pillar economy," said Treasurer Tim Nicholls.

Mr Nicholls said the $7 GP co-payment and reducing funding to the Better Schools Plan were deeply disappointing changes.

"The revisions are nothing more than an unjustified attack on the state's delivery of health and education services," he said.

"We will use the time between now and the implementation of these measures to take the fight to Canberra.

"These changes will significantly increase the pressure on the state's budget, as we believe the shifting of expenditure to the state's budget is unsustainable.

"Of particular concern is the freezing of indexation payments to local governments. The state is not in a position to assist, given our own budget repair task, so this reduction in funding is going to increase the strain on local governments."

Shadow treasurer Curtis Pitt says the budget shows Prime Minister Tony Abbott is like Queensland Premier Campbell Newman when it comes to telling the truth and keeping promises.

"Tony Abbott and Campbell Newman are two peas in a pod. They say anything to get elected, and then they break promise after promise to the people who put their trust in them," Mr Pitt said in a statement.

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Car industry cuts face Senate block

THE Abbott government's cuts to car industry assistance could be blocked in the Senate.

Industry Minister Ian Macfarlane announced on Tuesday the shutdown of a number of automotive sector programs, with funding redirected to new innovation and training plans.

Unions estimated the cuts to the auto industry totalled $838 million.

Under the government's new schemes, $480 million will be spent on an entrepreneurs' infrastructure program bringing research and business together to develop and commercialise home-grown ideas.

There is also a $476 million industry skills fund and $50 million for a manufacturing transition grants program.

A $155 million growth fund will help industry transition from car manufacturing to new products.

"Our new industry approach builds on our strengths by improving productivity, rewarding entrepreneurship and giving companies the structural support to back themselves," Mr Macfarlane said.

But independent senator Nick Xenophon said the budget tossed a "wrecking ball" through the automotive sector.

"The federal government is destroying any chance of new jobs and new industries and new markets being found," he said, adding he would oppose the bill when it came to parliament.

Democratic Labor Party senator John Madigan said the budget had pulled the rug from under many automotive businesses and threatened 33,000 jobs.

Labor spokesman Senator Kim Carr declined to comment, but has previously expressed concern about industry assistance cuts.

The budget cut $215 million that was to go to Holden to make its next-generation vehicles.

A company spokesman said Holden won't need the money as it will stop making cars in Australia in 2017.

The Australian Manufacturing Workers Union said the government had failed auto workers in Victoria and South Australia.

"Tony Abbott's 'liberated' automotive workers won't be feeling very bright after today's budget," AMWU president Andrew Dettmer said.

He said the budget's total funding cut for the car industry came in at $838 million and car makers were now likely to close their factories earlier than expected.

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Shocking day for NT: Opposition

IT has been a shocking day for Territorians hit with a one-two punch of the Northern Territory and federal budgets, the Labor opposition says.

NT Treasurer Dave Tollner will comment on the national figures on Wednesday, his spokesman said, but others have been quick to respond.

"Territorians will be disproportionately affected twice a year by the fuel excise increase, with motorists already paying too much for fuel, about $2 a litre in regional areas and $1.72 in Darwin," Opposition Leader Delia Lawrie said.

Seniors have had benefits cut from both budgets. A mean test has been put in place to access NT benefits, and the eligibility age for the Commonwealth age pension will be increased to 70 by 2035.

The age pension's means test thresholds will be frozen for three years, and there will be a tougher income test for self-funded retirees to receive the Commonwealth Seniors Health Card.

Ms Lawrie said there was more cause for concern.

"Extremely concerning is the $500 million cut to indigenous services and the $80 billion axe taken to schools and hospitals across the nation," Ms Lawrie said.

The federal government says $593.7 million will be invested in NT roads.

Projects include more funding for NT roads, with the strengthening and widening of road pavements, flood immunity improvements and fatigue management measures, which will have a federal contribution of $77 million.

There are also upgrades to six regional roads, which will improve flood immunity, safety and reliability for communities at a federal cost of $90 million, although the opposition says this is merely a repackaging of a deal fully costed and funded by the former Labor NT and federal governments.

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Man stabbed by teen at NSW house party

A teenager has been charged after a man was stabbed at a central west NSW house party overnight. Source: AAP

A YOUNG man has been stabbed in the back, chest and stomach at a central west NSW house party.

The man was arguing with the teen at the party in Orange on Saturday night when the 17-year-old allegedly ran inside and armed himself with a knife.

"He then approached the 23-year-old man he was arguing with and allegedly stabbed him in the stomach, chest and back," police said.

"A number of people intervened and the injured man was placed into a car."

Police at a nearby address where then asked for help and they rendered first-aid to the man.

Paramedics were called and he was taken to Orange Health Service where he was treated for "not serious" stab wounds.

The 17-year-old was arrested at the party, charged with wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.

He's been denied bail and is due before Orange Children's Court on Monday.

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Militants kidnap, kill 20 Iraqi soldiers

A series of bombings in Iraq has killed 19 people, authorities say. Source: AAP

MILITANTS who attacked a military base in north Iraq kidnapping 20 soldiers later shot them dead.

The soldiers were abducted by a large group of militants in several vehicles from a small base in the Ain al-Jahash south of Mosul, and their bodies were found in the area on Saturday night, sources said.

But accounts of when the attack took place varied, with a police major and morgue employee putting it on Saturday night, while an army major general said it had taken place earlier in the week.

The police major said the soldiers had been shot in various parts of their bodies and that their hands had not been bound.

The attack comes after militants killed 12 soldiers and wounded 15 in an April 17 assault on a military base west of Mosul, the capital of Nineveh province.

The province is one of the most consistently violent areas in Iraq.

Militants opposed to the Iraqi government frequently target members of the security forces, but it is rare for such a large number of soldiers to be kidnapped at once, especially from a military position.

The killings come as Iraq suffers a protracted surge in bloodshed, the worst to hit the country since the brutal sectarian fighting that peaked in 2006-2007 and killed tens of thousands of people.

The government has repeatedly blamed the unrest on external factors such as the civil war in neighbouring Syria.

But analysts and diplomats say widespread anger in the minority Sunni Arab community over alleged mistreatment at the hands of the Shiite-led authorities has also played a major role in the violence.

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Dozens hurt in China protest

At least 29 police have been injured in China during a protest over a proposed waste incinerator. Source: AAP

A PROTEST in eastern China over a plan to build a waste incinerator has turned violent with state media reporting at least 10 demonstrators and 29 police injured in clashes.

State-run Xinhua News Agency says 30 vehicles were overturned as protesters on Saturday set two police cars on fire and blocked a highway linking Hanzhou with another city.

One protester and a policeman have been reported seriously injured.

An official in the city's Yuhan district government confirmed the incident on Sunday but would not offer details.

An online statement posted by the district government says construction on the incinerator would not begin until the project had won public support.

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Missing Queensland girl found safe

Police say 3 men and a woman who abducted Queensland toddler Bella Goulding are known to her family. Source: AAP

A TWO-YEAR-OLD girl abducted from her father's southeast Queensland home has been found safe and well in a Brisbane suburb.

Bella Rose Goulding was located at Archerfield, in the city's south, on Sunday night and police say they're questioning a man and a woman.

"Investigations are continuing," the Queensland police service said in a statement.

"A man and a woman are currently assisting police with inquiries."

Bella was taken from a house at Willowbank, near Ipswich, on Saturday night and police say her abductors are known to the family.

On Sunday evening, police released the names and images of Lisa Maree Carroll, 21, and Michael Kenneth Winning, 42, saying they say may be able to assist their investigation but refusing to disclose details of their relationship to Bella.

The 8pm abduction occurred on Sancroft Street, which is near a park and the Cunningham Highway.

The girl's father Steven declined to speak publicly on Sunday.

Witnesses saw the abductors in a white Holden Commodore and a silver Mitsubishi sedan.

Further information is being sought from Queensland police.

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Flat open for Aust shares on budget eve

The Australian share market is tipped for a flat start ahead of Tuesday's federal budget. Source: AAP

THE Australian share market is tipped for a flat start ahead of Tuesday's federal budget.

CommSec chief economist Craig James says the futures market is pointing to no change at all at the local open.

"I suppose when you weigh up all the factors, it tends to make sense," he told AAP.

"The US share markets were higher but European markets were lower and we have had declines in the oil price, gold price and the iron ore price as well as quite a number of the base metal prices."

The Abbott government will deliver its first budget on Tuesday, ending the intense speculation around spending cuts and a debt levy.

Mr James said investors would be watching closely in case the government took significant dollars out of the economy and prompted the Reserve Bank of Australia to cut interest rates.

"I suppose the good news is once the budget is out of the road, all the speculation will stop and we can focus on the measures and how they are going to affect the economy," he said.

Mr James said investors could be encouraged by the continuing rise in US share markets but the volatile situation in Ukraine was still on the radar.

Back home, the National Australia Bank's monthly business survey for April will be released on Monday followed by Australian Bureau of Statistics housing finance data on Tuesday.

As for the Australian dollar, which was trading at 93.56 US cents on Friday, Mr James tipped little change.

Late on Thursday night, the Australian dollar peaked at 93.96 US cents, the highest since early November, helped by strong local jobs figures and Chinese trade data.

At the close on Friday, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index was 17.7 points, or 0.32 per cent, lower at 5,459.1 and the broader All Ordinaries index was down 16.1 points, or 0.30 per cent, at 5,439.8.

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