End failure mentality, PM tells Tasmania

Prime Minister Tony Abbott says Tasmania has to stop programming itself to fail. Source: AAP

TASMANIA needs to stop programming itself for failure, Prime Minister Tony Abbott has told the ailing island state.

In a clear reference to environmental standards, Mr Abbott has told Liberal members at the party's state conference Tasmania has set the bar too high.

"All too often, particularly here in Tasmania, we have programmed ourselves to fail," the prime minister said on Saturday.

"We have burdened ourselves with unnecessary taxes and regulations.

"We have set standards of perfection which no one can achieve instead of getting on with a reasonable job with a reasonable prospect of success."

Mr Abbott reminded members the state had the country's highest unemployment, lowest wages and lowest life expectancy.

"All that simply has to change," he said.

The prime minister received a standing ovation from around 200 members in a celebratory mood on his first visit to Tasmania since his election in September.

The state delivered massively for the coalition, dumping ALP members from three of its five seats in an 11.3 per cent swing against the government, the biggest of any state.

"It is so good to be here to savour success," Mr Abbott said.

The party looks likely to savour more success in a state election due next March.

Opposition leader Will Hodgman is riding high in the polls after 15 years of Labor government, the last four in coalition with the Greens.

Mr Abbott gave Mr Hodgman, the son of the late former federal minister Michael Hodgman, a ringing endorsement.

"What we need here in Tasmania is new will and new leadership and that's what is sitting right here beside me," the prime minister said.

Mr Hodgman will address the conference on Sunday.

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Obama vows to fix healthcare website

The White House says the bug plagued website for Obamacare scheme will be fixed by end of November. Source: AAP

US President Barack Obama has acknowledged problems with the rollout of a key health website, adding he had people "working overtime" to fix the glitches.

Obama has faced a flood of criticism over this month's sputtering debut of healthcare.gov, through which millions of Americans are expected to buy insurance.

Customers have had trouble signing on, getting accurate cost estimates, and completing enrolment.

"As you may have heard, the site isn't working the way it's supposed to yet," Obama said in his weekly broadcast address on Saturday.

"That's frustrating for all of us who have worked so hard to make sure everyone who needs it gets health care."

Obama said the site had been visited more than 20 million times, and nearly 700,000 people have applied for coverage - proof, he said, of the high demand for "quality, affordable health care choices".

"And that's why, in the coming weeks, we are going to get it working as smoothly as it's supposed to. We've got people working overtime, 24/7, to boost capacity and address these problems, every single day."

Obama's Republican opponents, who have long opposed his health insurance reform, seized on the website's failed launch as a chance to slam the administration.

At a House hearing Thursday, Republicans took turns bashing the administration and demanding accountability for the flawed website debut.

It was "interesting to see Republicans in Congress expressing so much concern that people are having trouble buying health insurance through the new website", said Obama on Saturday.

"Especially considering they've spent the last few years so obsessed with denying those same people access to health insurance that they just shut down the government and threatened default over it."

Obama said he would work with opponents to improve the law - formally known as the Affordable Care Act - but that "it's well past the time for folks to stop rooting for its failure."

Some people "have poked fun at me this week for sounding like an insurance salesman", Obama said. "And that's okay. I'd still be out there championing this law even if the website were perfect."

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US citizen drowns off Tasmania

A UNITED States citizen has drowned while diving off Tasmania.

The woman was diving off the Tinderbox Marine Reserve south of Hobart when she was reported missing at about 1.15pm (AEDT) on Saturday.

Her diving companions located her a short time later lying in 12m of water.

Attempts to resuscitate her by her diving companions, police and paramedics were unsuccessful.

She was pronounced dead on arrival at Royal Hobart Hospital.

The diver was a 48-year-old United States citizen who was visiting Tasmania.

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Stuntman-director Hal Needham dies

HAL Needham, a top Hollywood stuntman who turned to directing rousing action films including Smokey and the Bandit and The Cannonball Run, has died aged 82.

His business managers told the Los Angeles Times that Needham died on Friday in Los Angeles.

A former paratrooper, Needham appeared in thousands of TV episodes and hundreds of movies, performing and designing stunts and new equipment to execute them.

Needham jumped from planes, was dragged by horses and wrecked cars - breaking 56 bones in the process.

His best-known directing efforts involved 1970s Burt Reynolds action comedies, including Smokey, Cannonball Run and Stroker Ace. He also directed Arnold Schwarzenegger in The Villain.

In a Twitter posting, Schwarzenegger called Needham an icon.

Needham received an honorary Oscar last year.

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Large shark bites diver's fin off WA

A LARGE shark is believed to have bitten part of a scuba diver's fin off Perth.

The diver said he saw a large dark shape in the water then noticed part of his fin was missing as he returned to his boat.

The man was diving near Little Island off Hillarys Boat Harbour at about 11am (WST) on Saturday.

WA Department of Fisheries Shark Response Unit manager Lisa Clack said the department's senior shark scientist had assessed the fins and was unable to confirm it was a shark bite.

"There are some marks which could have been caused by a shark bite, but other marks we would expect to see from a shark bite are absent," Ms Clack said in a statement.

"We are unable to confirm. While this could have been a shark, other large marine animals, particularly seals and sea-lions, are known to occasionally bite divers' fins."

Ms Clack said fisheries officers attended boat ramps in the area to advise water users that an incident was reported and that they should be extra careful.

Earlier on Saturday a series of tagged white shark detections were recorded along the Perth coast.

The detections occurred at the Swanbourne, Floreat and Scarborough receivers, with the first detection at 3:45am.

A Department of Fisheries spokesman said shark monitors in the area where the man reported the shark attack did not detect a shark, so the likelihood it was the same shark was distant.

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Bronco turned outlaw bikie denied bail

A FORMER Brisbane Bronco turned outlaw motorcycle gang member has been denied bail over drug trafficking charges under harsh new laws designed to stop bikies walking free.

Michael Spence, 25, was one of eight men arrested on Wednesday in a police sting targeting the alleged ice trafficking outfit.

Spence was the sergeant-at-arms of the Hells Angels' Brisbane chapter and alleged debt collector for accused ringleaders and gang members Bruno and Nuno Da Silva.

The trio resigned from the gang nine days before contentious new laws targeting bikies were passed on October 17.

Under one part of the law, criminal gang members who apply for bail must now show cause as to why they should be released.

Spence's lawyer Jeff Hunter argued in the Brisbane Magistrates Court the new laws were passed too late to apply to his client, and that the case against him was weak.

But Chief Magistrate Tim Carmody ruled that the new bail laws did apply to Spence and ordered he be remanded in custody.

Mr Carmody accepted the argument by prosecutors that although Spence had resigned from the Hells Angels he was still in an allegedly criminal organisation by trafficking drugs with the Da Silvas.

He criticised the prosecution's material as "limited", but rejected Spence's lawyer's argument that the police case was too weak to keep the former footballer in prison.

There was enough information to show the prosecution had evidence capable of securing a conviction, the magistrate said.

"Accordingly the applicant has failed to discharge his onus and show cause why bail should be granted," Mr Carmody said.

Spence was remanded in custody until his next court appearance on January 20.

The Da Silva brothers' bail applications have been adjourned until Monday.

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Car image released in Qld gunman hunt

POLICE are searching for a small aqua hatchback in their hunt for tattooed gunman who opened fire at a Sunshine Coast motel.

They have released a picture of an older model Ford Festiva with Queensland number plates and are asking anyone who has seen it to call Crime Stoppers.

The gunman remains on the run after reportedly threatening a 29-year-old woman with a firearm at the Buderim property on Thursday afternoon.

Police say when she ran out the back door of the room, he fired a shot through the front wall.

The gunman is described as Caucasian, in his early 20s, slim and about 180cm tall with short hair.

He was wearing a white t-shirt and dark coloured shorts, and has a tattoo across his back.

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Roadside bombing kills 6 Afghan soldiers

A ROADSIDE bombing has killed six Afghan soldiers in the country's west, a military spokesman says.

Najibullha Najibi said on Friday that the six died when their vehicle struck a roadside bomb in the western Herat province's Adraskan district the previous day. The six were from a unit based at the Shindand military airport, Herat's largest.

Najibi, an Afghan National Army spokesman, says those killed in Thursday's incident included two officers and four soldiers.

In another incident on Thursday, Mhuklis Afghan, a spokesman for the governor of eastern Paktika province, says a tractor hit a road mine in the Jani Khil district, killing one person and wounding four.

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Security giant Serco chief resigns

CHRISTOPHER Hyman, the chief executive of security giant Serco, which is facing an investigation after the British government was overcharged millions of pounds for electronically tagging criminals, has resigned, the company has announced.

Hyman quit as the firm attempted to rebuild its relationship with the government following controversies over its handling of key contracts.

"I have always put the interests of Serco first. At this time, nothing is more important to me than rebuilding the relationship with our UK government customer," Hyman said.

"In recent weeks it has become clear to me that the best way for the company to move forward is for me to step back. I have been fortunate enough to have had the privilege of working at a great company with extremely talented people. I wish everyone at Serco the very best for the future."

The firm faces investigation after the government was overcharged millions of pounds for electronically tagging criminals and there are also allegations of potentially fraudulent behaviour in the management of its STG285 million ($A482.64 million) prison escorting contract.

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Aust publisher battles for Myanmar paper

STAFF members of the Yangon-based "Myanmar Times" newspaper house have appealed to a Myanmar court against a bid by the local partner to liquidate the company, overseen by Australian publisher, Ross Dunkley.

Dunkley, 55, is fighting to stave off legal challenges to his control over the company, that have been launched by the publishing house's partner, Dr Tin Tun Oo, now seeking to have the paper wound up in a bitter dispute over control.

In court reports, seen by AAP, a judge on Thursday accepted an affidavit from Zaw Myint, deputy editor in chief of The Myanmar Times, who acted as a representative of "a vast majority" of the 350 staff members employed by the paper.

The appeal claimed the staff opposed the application to wind up the paper as it occupied a "unique place in the publishing sector", with staff jobs at stake and how "it would be senseless to force it shut".

Tin Tun Oo presently holds a 51 per cent share in the parent company, Myanmar Consolidated Media, with the remaining 49 per cent held by Dunkley and associates, including Australian Mining magnate, Bill Clough.

Dunkley and Clough are also investors in the Cambodian-based Phnom Penh Post.

Dunkley is also facing law suits brought by Tin Tun Oo's wife, Khin Moe Moe, who alleges the Australian assaulted her son-in-law in an altercation at the newspaper's offices in January.

Dunkley dismisses the charge.

In turn Dunkley has filed counter suits against Khin Moe Moe.

In Thursday's hearing Dunkley's barrister, Aung Than Soe, told the court the application over the paper's closure should be dismissed, claiming the case lay outside the boundaries of company law, with inconsistencies in the plaintiff's claims.

Aung Than Soe also said the criminal charges laid against Dunkley by Khin Moe Moe were "personal grudges and not related to the law".

Earlier, the judge had dismissed a temporary injunction by Tin Tun Oo against the Myanmar Times to halt its publication, saying the injunction "had no merit".

Dunkley, in an earlier interview with AAP, had dismissed the bid by Tin Tun Oo, who has claimed a loan of $US100,000 ($A104,180) was outstanding and was threatening to close the paper.

"We are profitable and can pay any debt as and when it arises," he said.

The Myanmar Times, a weekly, began publishing in 2000 with the then backing of the powerful military intelligence chief, Khin Nyunt, with a senior intelligence officer, Thein Swe, appointing his son, Sonny Swe as Dunkley's partner.

But power struggles within the then military government led to Sonny Swe and other family members being jailed.

His shares were then sold to Tin Tun Oo.

The Myanmar Times has so far failed in its bid to be granted a daily newspaper licence despite the country's moves to greater media freedom.

Media analysts say the legal moves against Dunkley are a bid to force him out and allow new owners to take control of the publishing house against a backdrop of the present boom in media outlets in the country.

The judge adjourned the case for the next hearing on November 18.

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