10 Islamists sentenced to death in Egypt

An Egyptian court has sentenced 10 supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood movement to death. Source: AAP

AN Egyptian court has sentenced ten supporters of ousted President Mohammed Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood movement to death in absentia on charges of inciting violence and blocking a road last July.

Judge Hassan Fareed on Saturday referred the sentence to the Grand Mufti, the highest Islamic authority in Egypt, a legal requirement usually considered a formality.

The remaining 38 accused in the case, including the Brotherhood's supreme guide and other senior members, will be sentenced at the next hearing on July 5.

The case is one of several ongoing mass trials of supporters of the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood. Under Egyptian law, those sentenced in absentia will have a new trial if they are arrested or surrender to authorities.

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One dead, one hurt in SA speed boat crash

ONE person is dead and another has been rushed to hospital after a speedboat crashed on the Murray River in South Australia.

SA Police say Saturday afternoon's accident occurred during a competitive event.

"There were two victims, one is sadly deceased," an SA police spokesman said.

"The other has got some serious burns and has been flown to the Royal Adelaide Hospital."

The Adelaide Advertiser reported the victims were both male, but SA Police were unable to provide further details.

"It was a sad tragic way of ending the day's competition there," the police spokesman said.

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Alleged Sydney card skimmer charged

A man has been caught allegedly skimming money out of ATMs in Sydney's west using stolen card data. Source: AAP

A MAN has been caught allegedly skimming money out of ATMs in Sydney's west using stolen card data.

Police were contacted after the 27-year-old was seen acting suspiciously in Parramatta on Friday morning, walking from one ATM to another, allegedly making transactions with several cards.

Officers later detained and searched the man, finding 15 store cards, which are believed to have been encoded with stolen card data. He also had more than $4000 in cash on him.

The Fairfield man was charged with dishonestly obtaining financial advantage by deception and two other related charges.

He was granted conditional bail and is due to appear at Parramatta Local Court on July 16.

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PM wants Monash to be household name

THE efforts of Australian General John Monash on the Western Front in World War I should be as widely recognised as the story of Simpson and his donkey at Gallipoli, Prime Minister Tony Abbott says.

Mr Abbott revealed on Saturday a new memorial centre to be built in France would be named in honour of the Australian military leader, who is regarded as one of the great tacticians of World War I.

After joining world leaders at D-Day commemorations in Normandy on Friday, Mr Abbott turned his attention to the First World War as he visited the Australian National Memorial at Villers-Bretonneux for the first time.

While not as famous as the Gallipoli campaign, the efforts of Australian diggers to stop German forces on the Western Front were critical to the outcome of the war.

Of the 295,000 Australians who fought there between 1916 and 1918, 46,000 never made it home and the prime minister is leading a push he believes will help improve a sense of national identity.

"No place on earth has been more densely sown with Australian sacrifice than these fields in France," Mr Abbott said.

"Australians should be as familiar with the story of the Western Front as we are with Gallipoli.

"Australians should be at least as familiar with the achievements of Monash as we are with the heroism of John Simpson Kirkpatrick (in Gallipoli)."

Sir John Monash was involved in the failed Gallipoli campaign but used his experiences to lead several significant battlefield victories, including the decisive Battle of Amiens.

Mr Abbott said he brought organisation and technology to the battlefield to "break the stalemate of trench warfare".

Attendances at the annual Anzac Day dawn service at Villers-Bretonneux have grown steadily in recent years, with the crowd this year surpassing that at Gallipoli.

Some predict it will become the nation's clear focal point of Anzac Day commemorations beyond next year's centenary in Gallipoli.

"Australians should congregate here, every April 25th, no less than at Anzac Cove," Mr Abbott said.

"And on Anzac Day four years hence, the centenary of the Battle of Villers-Bretonneux, I'm sure they will."

Mr Abbott said it was expected the new "interpretive centre", to be built behind the Australian memorial, would open in 2018 to coincide with 100th anniversary commemorations.

The "Sir John Monash" centre will help to better explain Australia's role in the final victories of World War I and the government will put up $6.9 million for the initial planning.

Mr Abbott later followed in the footsteps of former prime ministers by visiting the Victoria School, built in Villers-Bretonneux in 1927 with money donated by school children from the Australian state.

He chatted with schoolchildren and locals in the school's courtyard, where a prominent green and gold sign hangs permanently reading: "Never Forget Australia."

Mr Abbott then visited the memorial site at nearby Pozieres, the sight of a bloody 1916 battle where 23,000 Australians were killed in the space of just six weeks.

The prime minister was expected to meet with French President Francois Hollande on Saturday night before departing Paris on Sunday for Canada and the US.

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Man dies after car hits pole in Victoria

A MAN has died after his car left the road and struck a power pole in the Victorian town of Warragul.

Police believe the 19-year-old Warragul man was driving west along Queen Street just before 7pm on Saturday when he lost control on a bend and collided with the pole.

He died before he could be airlifted to a city hospital.

Police are investigating reports the driver was involved in an earlier collision in Drouin and will prepare a report for the coroner.

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$33.6b of Qld assets earmarked for sale

Queensland Treasurer Tim Nicholls has handed down his third budget in Brisbane. Source: AAP

ASSETS worth $33.6 billion will be sold or leased if the Newman government wins next year's election, with a quarter of the proceeds going towards state building projects.

Six months after initiating scoping studies to gauge investor appetite, Treasurer Tim Nicholls has finally revealed that all assets originally earmarked for sale or lease will go.

The asset sales document, handed down separate to Tuesday's budget, is a draft report and a final decision will be made in September.

Electricity generators CS Energy and Stanwell would be offloaded, and Ergon's retail business would also be offered to sweeten the deal.

The industrial pipelines of Sunwater would be sold, and long-term leases would be offered for the Gladstone and Townsville ports, including the Mount Isa rail line.

About $29 billion could be raised by private investment in electricity distributors Ergon, Energex and Powerlink.

Investors will be offered a share of revenue if they undertake $9.8 billion of infrastructure upgrades.

There was no final figure on how much revenue Queenslanders will miss out on if assets are sold, but Mr Nicholls says its impact on the fiscal balance is expected to be minimal.

"But it will really free up a lot more opportunities to invest in the future," he said.

Three-quarters of the money raised would reduce state debt by $25 billion, taking it to $55 billion.

The rest, totalling $8.6 billion, would fund infrastructure projects over six years.

A billion dollars would be put aside for the Brisbane underground, a five-kilometre bus and train tunnel that goes under the Brisbane River.

Another $3 billion would be spent on roads and one billion dollars on new schools, with up to 48 needed by 2021.

Half-a-billion dollars would be set aside for future natural disasters

The asset sales document detailed public responses to the "Strong Choices" survey, which found 46 per cent of the 55,000 respondents favoured asset sales and 46 per cent preferred tax hikes and reduced services.

To further win over the public, another advertising blitz will be launched, at the cost of $5.2 million.

Mr Nicholls said there would be a strong appetite to buy the state's assets.

"Not everyone will agree with all of the choices this government has made about how to pay for things into the future," he said.

"But at least Queenslanders now know we will have funding certainty into the future, so we can invest in things we need for a growing and ageing population."

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Parents seek answers to son's Yemen death

THE parents of an Australian man killed in a US drone strike in Yemen want to know how their son died and what evidence the federal government has of his possible links to terrorism.

Christopher Harvard, 27, was killed in a US drone strike in Yemen on November 19 last year.

The Townsville man's parents, Neill and Bronwyn Dowrick, say they feel abandoned by the Australian government after being given conflicting information about his death.

"Every time we ask questions, they just won't answer," Mrs Dowrick told the ABC on Tuesday.

Mr Dowrick said it took at least a month after their son was killed before they were told.

First they heard he was killed in a Yemen government strike on a mosque, then in a car, then the federal government "changed the story every week".

Mr Harvard had told his parents he was going to Yemen to teach English after someone paid for his trip.

But the federal government apparently suspects he was linked to terrorism in Yemen and to the kidnapping of three Westerners in 2012.

Mr and Mrs Dowrick say they received a call in 2012 to advise their son's passport had been cancelled.

"So then he had to stay in Yemen," Mr Dowrick said.

The ABC showed freedom of information documents from Foreign Minister Julie Bishop's office that say Mr Harvard was being investigated for possible involvement in activities in Yemen linked to al-Qaeda in the Arabian peninsula, including the kidnapping of three Europeans.

Mr Dowrick says all that is hearsay and no one has ever given them any proof either way.

They want the truth.

"No lies, the straight-out truth," he said.

Mrs Dowrick said it has been a terrible ordeal.

"How do we move on? We have got no closure.

"We've got no proof of Chris's body, a death certificate or how he was actually killed," she said.

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8 cars earn top mark for collision warning

Eight cars have earned the highest safety rating in new tests of high-tech crash prevention systems. Source: AAP

THE 2014 Chevrolet Impala was the only non-luxury car to earn the highest safety rating in new tests of high-tech crash prevention systems.

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety tested cars equipped with collision warning and automatic braking systems. It gave a "superior" rating to cars that both warned the driver of a potential collision and applied the automatic brakes to significantly slow the cars.

The BMW 5 Series, BMW X5, Mercedes-Benz E-Class, Buick Regal, Cadillac CTS, Cadillac XTS and 2015 Hyundai Genesis also earned "superior" ratings in the test results released Thursday.

Collision warning and automatic braking systems use cameras, radars and lasers to determine if a vehicle is getting too close to the car in front of it. Most of the systems warn the driver - audibly, with vibrations in the seat, or both - and prepare the brakes to maximise their effect when the driver presses them.

In some cases, the vehicles brake themselves. That action may not prevent a crash, the institute said, but reducing the speed before the car hits something can help make crashes - and injuries - less severe.

The Impala's rating wasn't affected by a government investigation of one driver's report that the automatic braking system went off several times without warning, eventually causing an accident.

Insurance Institute spokesman Russ Rader said the group is aware of the investigation but had no issues with the Impala in testing.

The Arlington, Virginia-based institute, which is funded by insurers, began testing and rating the systems last autumn in hopes of pressuring automakers to adopt them as standard equipment.

The institute said 40 per cent of 2014 models now offer forward collision warning as an option, while 20 per cent offer automatic braking. Acura, Mercedes-Benz and Volvo offer the systems as standard equipment on some cars.

Tests are conducted at 20 kilometres per hour and 40 kilometres per hour. In the highest-rated cars, the brakes slowed the cars to 3 or 4 kph or less.

Thirteen 2014 models earned "advanced" ratings, meaning they warned drivers but their brakes reduced the speed only moderately. Those vehicles were: the BMW 3 Series, Buick LaCrosse, Lexus IS, Audi A3, Audi A6, BMW 3 Series, Dodge Durango, Lexus GS, Mercedes-Benz CLA, Infiniti QX50 and Infiniti QX70. The BMW 5 Series and BMW X5, which won superior ratings when equipped with a radar and camera, earned "advanced" ratings when equipped with City Brake, a camera-only system.

Three models earned "basic" ratings, meaning they warned drivers of a potential collision but reduced the car's speed by less than 8 kph. They were: the BMW 3 Series (without City Brake), the Infiniti Q70 and the Toyota Avalon.

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Westfield in court before restructure vote

WESTFIELD Retail Trust (WRT) shareholders are eagerly waiting for the outcome of a Supreme Court application over merger plans by the shopping centre giant.

Westfield is seeking approval to conclude an investor vote on a controversial proposed merger with the Australasian business of Westfield Group.

The planned merger hit a brick wall last week when the shareholder vote was postponed at the last minute amid heated debate about its merits.

WRT is in the Supreme Court in Sydney on Tuesday afternoon, seeking approval to send documents to securityholders ahead of a rescheduled vote.

Details of the date and venue for the conclusion of the meeting are included in the documents, which are likely to be made public soon after court approval is granted.

But a spokeswoman on Tuesday night said no date had been yet set for a fresh vote.

"I can confirm that we have not confirmed a date," the spokeswoman said. "When a date has been confirmed, we will send out a (media) release."

The spokeswoman's comments come despite a media report that June 20 had been set for fresh meeting and vote.

Under the restructure plan, Westfield's Australian and New Zealand businesses would merge with WRT to create a new entity, to be called Scentre.

Westfield Group's international business, which includes malls in Great Britain and at Westfield World Trade Center being built in New York, would become Westfield Corporation.

A significant number of WRT securityholders believe the proposed restructure favours Westfield Group to the detriment of WRT, and a number of proxy votes lodged last week by WRT securityholders in favour of the proposed merger fell just short of what was needed to push the restructure over the line.

Shortly before WRT investors were due to vote, Mr Lowy said Westfield Group would still seek to split its Australasian arm from its international business even if WRT securityholders did not approve the planned merger.

Proxies lodged before the original meeting will remain valid, but securityholders will be allowed to lodge new proxy votes if they have changed their view on the proposal, the company has said.

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ABS controls fail to trigger insider alert

THE Australian Bureau of Statistics has admitted it is difficult to counter the threat of a trusted insider leaking market-sensitive information.

Former ABS public servant Christopher Russell Hill, 24, of Belconnen in the ACT is facing criminal charges over his role in an alleged $7 million insider trading operation.

Police allege Hill gave market-sensitive information to his university friend, National Australia Bank associate director Lukas Kamay.

Kamay, 26, allegedly used the labour force, retail and trade figures, which had yet to be publicly released, to predict fluctuations in the Australian dollar.

The activity generated about $7 million in profits between August 2013 and May this year.

At a Senate estimates hearing on Tuesday night, ABS acting statistician Jonathan Palmer defended security protocols in place, describing the breach as unprecedented in the bureau's 100-year history.

"Fortunately in this case police were clear that this person acted alone," he said.

"That gives me some level of confidence."

The bureau has recruited Belinda Gibson, former deputy chair of the Australian Securities and Investments Commission, to conduct a review.

Staff must sign undertakings and declarations when they begin employment to show they are aware they risk jail if they leak sensitive information.

Mr Palmer said there were strict access controls on sensitive information and the bureau reviews access logs.

The hearing was told the bureau's procedures did not trigger any alerts to the alleged criminal behaviour.

Mr Palmer said Hill had been a trusted insider.

"It's a very difficult threat to counter," he said.

"If someone has a trusted need to access the number and they only have to leak an aggregate number or communicate in some obscure way that the number is contrary to market expectations, there's no requirement for them to take [numbers] out of the building."

He said staff were not allowed access to their mobile phones in lock-ups but that control measure did not extend to the office.

Labor senator Mark Bishop asked whether it was possible to have a staff lock-up between the data being finalised and then released to the market in order to restrict access to phones and computers.

He pointed to the Canberra press gallery's six hour budget lock-up as an example.

But Mr Palmer said that was not practical because sometimes data reports were completed days in advance.

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Brown wooed as face of Tasmanian tourism

Greens patriarch Bob Brown is being courted as the face of Tasmania's tourism campaigns. Source: AAP

BOB Brown is being wooed as the face of Tasmanian wilderness tourism.

The former Greens leader has been sounded out by the state's tourism industry to promote Tasmania's World Heritage Area.

The idea builds on the recent Go Behind the Scenery campaign, which sought to make the state's environmental battles a point of interest for tourists.

Tourism Industry Council boss Luke Martin has said Dr Brown defines the state's recent history.

But the Greens' patriarch may not be easily wooed.

Tasmania's new Liberal state government wants to open up national parks to eco-tourism development, a move Dr Brown has called "stupid" and "greedy".

Premier Will Hodgman is also backing a federal government move to cut 74,000 hectares from the World Heritage Area.

Dr Brown says he already pushes destination Tasmania but there would be conditions to him fronting a tourism campaign.

"I'm very woo-able but not unless they get the (balance) right," he has told the Hobart Mercury.

"Private development should be outside World Heritage and outside national parks, and developments inside national parks should be public and they should be well funded."

The Hodgman government has called for potential investors to pitch "sensitive and appropriate" eco-tourism ideas.

Mr Martin says they are the norm in countries such as New Zealand and Canada, where green groups support them.

Greens leader Christine Milne said the tourism industry should oppose the federal government's World Heritage wind-back.

"It's a bit rich for the Tourism Industry Council to be appealing to Bob Brown to help it sell tourism in World Heritage Areas while the Abbott government is trying to destroy them," she said in a statement.

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Better airliner tracking announced: IATA

AVIATION industry plans to improve global tracking following the Malaysia jet disappearance will be ready in September, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) says.

Announcing the date, the association's chief Tony Tyler repeated his earlier message that there must be "no repeat" of the flight MH370 incident.

Nothing has been found of the Malaysia Airlines' Boeing 777, which vanished on March 8 with 239 people on board en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.

"The loss of MH370 points us to an immediate need," Mr Tyler, IATA's director general and chief executive, told a world air transport summit in Doha on Monday.

"A large commercial airliner going missing without a trace for so long is unprecedented in modern aviation. It must not happen again.

"IATA, the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) and experts from around the world are working together to identify the best recommendations for improved global tracking.

"By September, we will deliver draft options to ICAO.

IATA's global aviation data management project is building the world's largest resource of operational information with data from a global spectrum of industry and government contributors.

"Our ultimate goal is to predict the potential for accidents and so ensure that they don't happen," Mr Tyler added.

"This is not science fiction. Each new data contribution and every improvement in our analytical capabilities moves this closer to reality."

Last week, Australia's Joint Agency Co-ordination Centre announced an end to the search in the southern Indian Ocean for the missing plane, after nothing had been found.

The agency said that an expanded search, based on satellite analysis of the plane's most likely route, would probably begin in August after commercial side-scan sonar operators were contracted.

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Alleged freeze on asylum seeker's claim

REFUGEE supporters claim the immigration department had put a "freeze" on the application of a now-deceased Sri Lankan asylum seeker because he had reached the Australian mainland.

Leorsin Seemanpillai, 29, set himself alight on Saturday.

He was living in Geelong waiting for his application for a protection visa to be finalised.

Immigration Minister Scott Morrison has cautioned against drawing conclusions about what drove Mr Seemanpillai to self harm.

There had been no visa decision nor had he been told he was being deported.

"This is a terrible and tragic incident and none of us can know the mind of someone in this situation," he told reporters in Canberra on Monday.

But Asylum Seeker Resource Centre spokeswoman Pamela Curr blames processing delays on the application of Mr Seemanpillai, whose boat reached Darwin in January 2013.

Ms Curr understands all asylum seekers who made it to Australia after August 2012 but before the federal parliament passed laws to excise the mainland in May 2013 have had their applications frozen.

"We don't know but maybe Leo would still be alive if his claims were being processed in a timely way," Ms Curr told AAP.

"These direct-entry people were all frozen."

The no-advantage test introduced by the Gillard government in August 2012 did not apply to asylum seekers who reached the mainland.

It was aimed at ensuring those who arrived by boat were not advantaged over people waiting in refugee camps.

Ms Curr said it was six months before Mr Seemanpillai had been allowed to make his refugee status claim and after 18 months he still hadn't had an official interview.

A spokeswoman for Mr Morrison denied direct-entry cases had been frozen.

Australian Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young said the cruelty of the Abbott Government's refugee policy was pushing people to breaking point

"It's clear that Leo was a casualty of the system," Senator Hanson-Young said.

The minister hit back at what he considered the politicising of the death.

"If they are then that is a disgraceful and grubby and despicable thing for the Greens to do," he told Sky News.

Mr Seemanpillai had been receiving community mental health support "for some time" and was in contact with a case worker as late as last Friday.

There was nothing to indicate during those meetings he had intended to take his own life.

Mr Morrison said he was satisfied Mr Seemanpillai had received adequate assistance while on the bridging visa, with work rights and ongoing mental health support.

The department will conduct a review of the arrangements.

* Readers seeking support and information about suicide prevention can contact Lifeline on 13 11 14 or Suicide Call Back Service 1300 659 467.

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Lucy rejects Malcolm leadership talk

Malcolm Turnbull says claims he might mount a leadership challenge are 'demented' and 'unhinged'. Source: AAP

MALCOLM Turnbull's fluey quest for spicy soup has been miscast as a leadership challenge, the cabinet minister's wife and former Sydney lord mayor Lucy Turnbull says.

Lucy Turnbull told the ABC's Q&A on Monday there was no conspiracy when her husband met Mr Palmer, the leader of the Palmer United Party, for dinner last Wednesday night.

Mr Turnbull sent a text message at 6pm on Wednesday saying he had the flu and needed some spicy soup.

"He sent me a message at 6.30 in the morning saying 'guess what, having dinner and then Clive came along.'"

"It was completely spontaneous.

"It has been completely miscast."

Mr Turnbull on Monday labelled conservative political commentator Andrew Bolt "demented" and "unhinged" for suggesting he's trying to take back the Liberal leadership.

Liberal senator Cory Bernardi, also a guest on the program, said he thought Mr Turnbull went too far in criticising Mr Bolt.

"It was inappropriate, it was unwise to do," he said.

It kicked the whole thing along.

"Malcolm I just think went a bit too heavy today."

On Sunday Mr Bolt asked Prime Minister Tony Abbott at the weekend whether Mr Turnbull's recent dinner with Mr Palmer was an indication Mr Turnbull has designs on the party's top job.

Mr Abbott on Sunday played down Mr Turnbull's actions, saying it was "perfectly reasonable" for senior members of the coalition to talk with crossbenchers to help get the budget passed.

Mr Bolt has written on his popular blog that he is sure Mr Turnbull is not contemplating any imminent challenge.

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White House defends Guantanamo releases

US defence secretary Chuck Hagel has defended a prisoner exchange with the Taliban for a US soldier. Source: AAP

THE White House has defended the release of five Guantanamo detainees in exchange for a US soldier held by the Taliban, saying a potential threat had been "sufficiently mitigated."

Army Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl - the only US soldier held by the Taliban after being captured in Afghanistan - was freed on Saturday in a dramatic deal brokered by Qatar.

In exchange, five Taliban prisoners were turned over to the Arab emirate, where they will remain for a year, sparking criticism from some Republicans, who claimed they could return to the battlefield and pose a threat to Americans abroad.

But White House Press Secretary Jay Carney took to the US morning talk shows on Monday to downplay the threat posed by the men - influential former officials of the Taliban regime that was toppled by the US-led invasion of Afghanistan.

"We have a history in this country of making sure that our prisoners of war are returned to us, we don't leave them behind," Carney told CNN.

"And it's entirely appropriate, given the determination made by the secretary of defence, in consultation with the full national security team, that the threat potentially posed by the returned detainees was sufficiently mitigated to allow us to move forward and get Bowe Bergdahl back home where he belongs."

Carney added that a travel ban and monitoring was in effect, giving Pentagon chief Chuck Hagel "the confidence to make the determination he did.

"I can say that we do believe and have confidence that the measures put in place in agreement with the host country allow us to feel confident that the threat is sufficiently mitigated," he said.

Bergdahl's almost five years in captivity saw him transferred between various militant factions along the volatile Afghanistan-Pakistan border, finally ending up in Pakistan's North Waziristan tribal district, according to militant sources.

The circumstances of the Idaho native's disappearance, from a base in Afghanistan's eastern Paktika province in 2009, remain unclear.

He arrived Sunday at the US military medical centre in Landstuhl in southern Germany where he is to continue his "reintegration process," the army said.

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Shotgun fired at Hobart house

Show us what you're doing at 3.03pm!

We want to know what you are doing, and where in Western Sydney. Take a picture at 3.03 on Sunday, and upload your piece of art to see it in Monday's paper.

The poet with a heart of gold

BULLDOGS fan Taylor Griffiths, 17, has come across more occupations than most kids his age. Oncologists. Immunologists. Surgeons. But until about a week ago, he had never met a poet.

Party drug smuggler faces life in jail

A UK man faces life in prison after being caught at Sydney Airport attempting to smuggle over 2kg of ecstasy in five tins of bath salts off a flight from Abu Dhabi.

Tooth decay costs taxpayers $2.7m

NSW taxpayers could be up for $2.7 million to help fund four north coast fluoride dosing plants in the state's worst tooth decay region as a result of the Byron Shire Council banning the dental booster from its water supply.

Diplomas or a debt trap?

COMPETITION to sign up students to expensive tertiary diploma courses is spiralling out of control, with offers of lavish inducements including free iPads, laptops and $1000 shopping vouchers.

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Qld still on track for surplus

Queensland premier Campbell Newman isn't phased by a massive increase to the fiscal deficit. Source: AAP

QUEENSLAND is still on track for a surplus despite the budget deficit quadrupling to a projected $2.27 billion next financial year.

The mid-year budget update in December estimated the fiscal deficit would be $664 million for 2014/15, but a $600 million write down in coal royalties has worsened the bottom lime.

So too has a lag in natural disaster relief repayments from the Commonwealth.

Premier Campbell Newman doesn't see the loss as a budget deterioration, rather he insists it's an accounting problem.

"It's a timing issue," he said.

Two years of job and service cuts have given enough of a buffer to sustain the hit, with the state still on track for a surplus in 2015/16, as promised.

"It will be the first time in over a decade that Queensland taxpayers won't have to borrow money," Mr Newman said.

On Tuesday, the Newman government will hand down its third and final budget before next year's election.

It has all but confirmed it will sell assets, instead of increasing taxes and reducing services, to help pay down $80 billion debt and build new infrastructure.

Two ports could be leased and two electricity generators and the commercial parts of Sunwater sold.

"The only way we can build the new infrastructure is through cutting front line services, putting up taxes and charges, or asset sales," Mr Newman said.

On Sunday, it was announced that $6.5 million had been set aside in the budget to hire 70 child safety officers.

Another $25 million will be spent on child safety initiatives, such as more referral services, support for families to care for children at home instead of out-of-home care, and improved support for indigenous families.

Child Safety Minister Tracy Davis says $406 million will be spent over five years, to allow an overhaul of the child protection system.

The funding boost is in response to the Queensland Child Protection Commission of Inquiry and the final report by Commissioner Tim Carmody QC.

He recommended keeping families together, with more prevention and early intervention services.

"Parents should be able to care for their own children at home safely, with early intervention services and support easily accessible for those families who need it," Ms Davis said.

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Aust pledges $100m for polio fight

Australia has pledged 100 million dollars to go towards eradicating polio in northern Africa. Source: AAP

AUSTRALIA has pledged $100 million to help eradicate polio for good.

The funds will be spread over five years and will go towards making countries in northern Africa and the Middle East - where outbreaks have been reported - polio-free.

It will also help Afghanistan, Pakistan and Nigeria, where the disease is endemic.

About $20 million will be provided over the next year to the Global Polio Eradication Initiative for immunisations to fight the disease's re-emergence.

Announcing the pledge on Sunday, Foreign minister Julie Bishop said Australia is committed to helping finish the job of eradicating polio.

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Bali flights under cloud but Darwin clear

Flights in Darwin are expected to resume later today as plumes from an Indonesian volcano dissipate. Source: AAP

FLIGHTS to and from Darwin have resumed after they were grounded by an ash cloud from an Indonesian volcano, as Jetstar grounds flights to Bali.

Darwin was cut off to all air services on Saturday as ash plumes billowed from the Sangeang Api volcano off the Indonesian island of Sumbawa. It erupted continuously after an initial blast on Friday afternoon.

The major plume affecting Australian aviation swept southeast over the west side of the Northern Territory and as far south as Alice Springs.

Cyndee Seals of the Bureau of Meteorology's Volcanic Ash Advisory Centre in Darwin said Australia was now clear but airlines were meeting to discuss an ash cloud near Bali.

"I can advise that the ash cloud across Australia is dissipating but there are still ash clouds southwest of the volcano and another to the east east-northeast from an earlier high eruption," she said.

The southwesterly ash cloud was nearing Bali but its effects on flights to Denpasar were not yet clear, Ms Seals said.

"Right now, unless the winds change - and they are a little variable - it will take the ash south of Denpasar, away from Bali," she said.

"The airlines are meeting about it."

On Sunday night Jetstar cancelled 12 flights in and out of Bali as the Sangeang Api cloud drifted towards Denpasar International Airport.

Qantas announced it had resumed its flights, while Virgin, Air Asia and Jetstar also resumed operations in and out of Darwin, Darwin International Airport spokeswoman Virginia Sanders told AAP.

But she urged travellers to stay in touch with their airline for updates on flights as some changes might be made.

"Flights are coming back on line but there are some scheduled changes so people still need to check with the airline with regards to what's happening with their particular flight," she told AAP.

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Iraq violence killed 799 in May: UN

VIOLENCE has claimed the lives of 799 Iraqis in May, the highest monthly death toll so far this year, the United Nations says, underlining the daunting challenges the government faces as it struggles to contain a surge in sectarian violence.

The figures issued by the UN mission to Iraq, known as UNAMI, put last month's civilian death toll at 603, with 196 security forces killed.

UNAMI added that 1409 Iraqis, including 1108 civilians, were wounded.

The previous month's death toll stood at 750, making April the second deadliest month of the year.

The worst-hit city was the capital Baghdad, with 315 people killed.

The northern province of Nineveh came in second with 113, followed by nearby Salahuddin province with 94.

The figures exclude deaths in embattled Anbar province, where militants have controlled parts of the provincial capital Ramadi and nearby Fallujah since December.

The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), a militant group that also operates in neighbouring Syria, has intensified its attacks across Iraq as political rivals work to form a new government following parliamentary elections on April 30.

Shi'ite Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's bloc emerged as the biggest winner, securing 92 seats in the 328-member parliament, but it failed to gain the majority needed to govern alone.

"I strongly deplore the sustained level of violence and terrorist acts that continues rocking the country," the UN Special Representative in Iraq, Nickolay Mladenov, said in the statement.

"I urge the political leaders to work swiftly for the formation of an inclusive government within the constitutionally mandated time frame and focus on a substantive solution to the situation in Anbar," he added.

Last year the death toll climbed to its highest levels since the worst of the sectarian strife in 2006 and 2007, when the country was on the brink of civil war.

The UN says 8868 people were killed in 2013.

The 2011 withdrawal of US forces, which had for eight years often acted as a buffer between Shi'ites and Sunnis, is thought to have contributed to the rise in violence, in addition to the use of deadly force by the Shi'ite-led security forces against Sunni protesters.

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