Vic Point Nepean master plan released

SOME things in life don't change, even over the course of more than 150 years.

From the mid 1850s, unwell first-class passengers arriving at Point Nepean in Victoria were given the best rooms with a view at the quarantine station so they could take in the glorious vistas of Port Phillip Bay.

Now the former station's first-class quarters in the national park are slated to be transformed into a boutique hotel or some other high-end accommodation.

It is just one of 57 largely unused buildings to be either reinvigorated or demolished under the Point Nepean master plan.

The Victorian government released the plan on Sunday, with expressions of interest from the private sector to open in coming months.

Last month, the government made public the rules for developments in national parks.

Stuart Hughes from Parks Victoria said adaptive reuse of existing buildings was the way forward.

"Our objective is to bring the place to life," he said.

Near the first-class quarters at the quarantine station stands the medical superintendent's house that was built in 1899. It was last used to house Kosovo refugees in 1999 and could soon be used as a day spa facility.

The quarantine station was established in 1852 and from 1952 the buildings also housed the Army Officer Cadet School.

The army officer cadet mess hall is expected to be transformed into a restaurant and function centre that can seat up to 300 people. It has already been used for several weddings.

It won't all be high-end offerings, with backpacker accommodation and a camping ground to be considered, along with an art gallery and a marine education facility.

There are also plans to establish a coffee shop near the visitor centre with the opportunity for visitors to learn about the multi-layered history of Point Nepean, including stories from the indigenous Boonwurrung people.

Peter Watkinson, from the Department of Sustainability and Environment, said at this stage there were no height or capacity restrictions for new buildings or renovations.

"You don't want to stifle innovation," he said.

Environment Minister Ryan Smith said the government was determined to strike the right balance between preserving the historical, natural and cultural values of the national park and supporting tourism and other opportunities.

"Appropriate and sensitive private investment is critical in ensuring the long-term survival of the site's historic and culturally significant buildings," he said.

Victorian National Parks Association executive director Matt Ruchel said he supported adaptive reuse of existing structures but the government should rule out new multi-storey buildings.

Visitors to the national park grew from 50,000 a year in 2009 to 180,000 in 2012.

Mr Hughes said the park could easily accommodate a more than doubling of annual visitor numbers.

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US stocks fall on drop in retail sales

US stocks opened have lower after a government report showed a drop in March retail sales.

Five minutes into trade, the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 41.09 (0.28 per cent) to 14,824.05.

The broad-based S&P 500 fell 6.49 (0.41 per cent) to 1,586.88, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index dipped 10.68 (0.32 per cent) to 3,289.48.

The losses came after the Commerce Department reported a 0.4 percent drop in March retail sales compared with February. Sales were down over a number of key categories: auto, electronics, food and beverage, health spending and gasoline.

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NSW police seize 95,000 pirated DVDs

POLICE have seized 95,000 counterfeit DVDs from a northwest Sydney storage unit as investigations into a large-scale piracy network continue.

The storage unit in Kings Park was on Friday raided as part of Australian Federation Against Copyright Theft, ATO and NSW police investigations.

DVD sleeves and paper work were also seized, police said.

No one has yet been charged over the incident and police are urging anyone with information to contact Crime Stoppers on 1300 333 000.

Last Friday, around 1.2 million suspected counterfeit high-quality DVDs, estimated to be worth $20 million, were found by police at a Kings Park home.

A 28-year-old Marayong woman was arrested after last week's seizure.

She was subsequently charged with two counts of dishonestly obtaining property by deception and selling, infringing copy of a work.

Strict conditional bail was granted and she's due before Blacktown Local Court on May 2.

Investigations into the piracy network are continuing, police said.

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NSW man attacks police with samurai sword

POLICE have been attacked with a samurai sword by a man they were trying to arrest on the NSW mid-north coast.

About 2.30 pm (AEST) Friday four officers went to a home in Eungai Creek to arrest a man after a warrant was issued by Macksville Local Court.

"As police approached the front door, a man exited the premises allegedly armed with a Samurai sword," police said in a statement.

A fight broke out between the officers and the 51-year-old.

A male detective was cut on the left hand as police attempted to disarm the man.

Another male detective senior constable "sustained soreness to his right hand and left arm," police said.

The assailant was taken to Macksville Hospital and was treated for a number of wounds.

He was charged by virtue of the warrant and also for using a weapon to to avoid apprehension and resisting arrest.

Bail was refused and he's due before Kempsey Local Court on Monday.

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Man dies after rolling ute in Queensland

A MAN has died after rolling his ute in central Queensland.

Police say they found a male driver, believed to be in his 30s, dead at the scene of the crash south of Mitchell about 9pm (AEST).

The forensic crash unit is investigating.

No further information was available.

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Crean scathing of Gillard leadership

FORMER minister Simon Crean has made a scathing assessment of Prime Minister Julia Gillard's leadership, saying she has a "tin ear" for sound political strategy.

Mr Crean says Ms Gillard is engaging in class warfare by playing off interest groups, Fairfax Media reports.

He says he will continue to campaign for a return to Labor traditions and said the party was deluding itself that destabilisation by Kevin Rudd was the sole reason for its trouble in the polls.

"I've been through destabilisation," referring to the time when he was Labor leader in 2001-03, "and we never went this low."

He said Ms Gillard was not living up to the principles of consensus and inclusiveness established by former prime ministers Bob Hawke and Paul Keating.

"She's gone the class warfare," Mr Crean is quoted as telling Fairfax Media.

"The 457 visa debate was a good example of the message being taken out of context because it looked like we'll put Australians before foreigners. Unequivocally, immigration has been good for this country. That's not the ethos of the Hawke-Keating model. How have we built the country? By cohesion. We are seen outside as the great success story of multiculturalism. Why don't we play to it? Play to strength."

He said Mr Rudd was "just arrogant, but she's got a tin ear. She sits there - 'Mmm' and listens but it doesn't translate.

"Because somewhere along the way she gets the word that here's the angle on how you get tomorrow's headline."

Ms Gillard sacked Mr Crean from her cabinet and submitted herself to a party room ballot for the leadership in March. But Mr Rudd declined to contest. Mr Crean said that Mr Rudd was now "finished".

After his unsuccessful attempt to install Kevin Rudd as Prime Minister, Mr Crean said the destabilisation within the party would stop and Prime Minister Julia Gillard had his support.

"A line has been drawn ... on the leadership issue," he told Fairfax Radio in March.

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Girl hospitalised after being hit by car

AN eight-year-old girl is in a critical condition in hospital after being hit by a car in Sydney's southwest.

Police found the girl unconscious in the back of another car on Wilga Street, Fairfield, in Sydney's southwest about 6pm (AEST) on Thursday.

They're investigating reports the girl ran onto the road before she was hit by a car.

She was taken to hospital in a critical condition.

The driver of the car stopped after the collision and was assisting police with inquiries.

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Even non-amputees experience phantom limbs

AMPUTEES often experience "phantom limbs", or the sensation that their missing limb is still present, but a Swedish study shows that even non-amputees can experience the bizarre sensation.

"Our results show that the sight of a physical hand is remarkably unimportant to the brain for creating the experience of one's physical self," said the lead author of the study, Arvid Guterstam of Sweden's prestigious Karolinska Institute.

Phantom limbs can be distressing and painful for amputees, and drugs cannot help as the sensation is essentially a trick of the brain, which imagines the existence of a limb that is not there.

Guterstam said his team hoped the results of their study would help lead to future research on amputees' phantom pain.

The researchers conducted 11 different experiments creating a perceptual illusion so that volunteers with two arms and hands experienced having an invisible hand.

In the experiments, participants sat at a table with their right arm hidden from their view behind a screen.

A scientist then touched the participant's right hand with a paintbrush while imitating the exact movements with another paintbrush in mid-air within the participant's full view.

"We discovered that most participants, within less than a minute, transfer the sensation of touch to the region of empty space where they see the paintbrush move, and experience an invisible hand in that position," Guterstam said.

"Previous research has shown that non-bodily objects, such as a block of wood, cannot be experienced as one's own hand, so we were extremely surprised to find that the brain can accept an invisible hand as part of the body," he added.

In another experiment, researchers made a stabbing motion with a knife toward the empty space "occupied" by the invisible hand and measured the participant's sweat response in their palms to the perceived threat.

They found that the participants' stress responses were higher when they experienced the illusion, but absent when the illusion was broken.

And in a third experiment, the volunteers were asked to close their eyes and point with their left hand to their right hand. After having experienced the illusion for a while, they pointed to the location of their invisible hand instead of the real hand.

Researchers also measured brain activity, and found that the invisible hand illusion led to increased activity in the parts of the brain that are normally active when individuals see their real hand being touched.

Seventy-four per cent of the 234 volunteers experienced a phantom limb during the experiments, Guterstam said.

The results were published Thursday in the US Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience.

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Thatcher street debate rages in Paris

A PROPOSAL to rename a Paris street after late British prime minister Margaret Thatcher has divided politicians in the French capital, Le Figaro newspaper reports.

The proposal to honour the "Iron Lady", who regularly jousted with French leaders whether they were from the Left or the Right, came from a member of the centre-right Union for a Popular Movement (UMP).

Following the announcement of Thatcher's death on Monday, UMP councillor Jerome Dubus said he would submit a proposal for a street or square to be named after her, as a "a small gesture for a great lady".

His proposal drew contempt from leftist politicians.

The leader of the Communist group in the city council, Ian Brossat, who declared that Thatcher's "ultra-liberalism" had an "appalling impact on the state and the working class".

Brossat said his group would submit a counterproposal - to name a street after Bobby Sands, "who died for defending the right of people to self-determination".

Sands was the first of 10 IRA prisoners, who died on hunger strike in Belfast in 1981 over Thatcher's refusal to grant political status to republican inmates.

During the course of his hunger strike, Sands was elected to the House of Commons.

A Socialist Party councillor had yet another idea.

"Dumbfounded" by the proposal for a Thatcher street, Christophe Gerard tweeted: "I will present a wish for a Shakespeare street."

The proposals are expected to be debated at the next session of the Paris council on April 22.

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Mali PM urges French troops to stay

MALI'S prime minister has urged France to maintain a military presence in its former colony, as troops began an early withdrawal three months after ousting armed Islamists from the country's north.

Diango Cissoko made the plea on a tour of Gao, the first visit to the battle-scarred northern city by a head of government since it was overrun by Al Qaeda-linked militants more than a year ago.

The premier, who was welcomed by locals and military personnel, paid tribute to the French troops who intervened to liberate northern Mali from the armed militias in January.

"The Malian nation will be eternally grateful," he said.

But he urged the French army to "continue on this path" and stay in Mali, despite Paris pulling out 100 soldiers ahead of schedule this week as part of a phased withdrawal of the majority of its 4,000 troops.

France has said it will leave 2,000 soldiers on the ground throughout the summer, reducing its presence by the end of the year to a "support force" of 1,000 fighting alongside a UN-mandated army of some 11,000 troops.

The cities of Gao, Timbuktu and Kidal fell in March last year to Tuareg rebels who declared independence of the entire desert north before losing control to armed Islamists.

French warplanes bombed parts of Gao in January to drive out fighters from the Movement for Oneness and Jihad in West Africa (MUJAO), and the city was recaptured for the Bamako government by French and Malian forces on January 26.

Just days later, jihadists managed to infiltrate the city, where they staged the first suicide bombing in Mali's history.

French troops fighting alongside the Malian army and other African soldiers have largely succeeded in driving Islamist insurgents from the north but pockets of resistance remain, particularly in the Gao region.

A thousand French soldiers have been conducting an operation to destroy MUJAO's logistics infrastructure in a valley north of Gao since Sunday.

Parallel to the ongoing military operations, the international community is pushing for a formal process of reconciliation between the deeply divided nation's diverse ethnic communities ahead of presidential elections scheduled for July.

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Pistorius out and about while on bail

THE family of athlete Oscar Pistorius says the South African runner has been spending time with people who were close to the girlfriend he shot and killed in February.

A statement from the family of the double-amputee Olympian also said Thursday that Pistorius has spent that time in "surroundings where shared memories were created."

The statement indicates Pistorius is interacting more with people outside his uncle Arnold's home in Pretoria, where he has been staying since he was released on bail in February.

Pistorius has been charged with murder in the Valentine's Day killing of Reeva Steenkamp. He called the killing an accident, saying he thought he was firing at an intruder through a bathroom door.

His next scheduled court appearance is June 4.

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OECD report recommends My School changes

AUSTRALIAN schools are performing well by international standards despite a recent "significant" decline in reading performance, a global agency says.

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), in a report published on Thursday, said Australia was among five OECD countries that recorded a significant fall in student performance in reading between 2000 and 2009.

The variation between low and high performing students in Australia was also higher than the OECD average in reading and science.

Despite this, Australian student learning outcomes were "very good" by international standards.

The OECD report praised the federal government's controversial My School website, which compares schools' literacy and numeracy scores with the results of statistically similar institutions and to the national average.

But it warned that it could lead to some "undesired effects" in placing too great a reliance on NAPLAN test results.

For instance, it could lead to a "narrowing effect" on the curriculum to more closely align with NAPLAN tests.

"There is also a danger that schools which perform satisfactorily may become complacent as the spotlight falls on those schools which perform least well comparatively," the OECD report said.

It recommended that direct links be provided on the My School website to school reports, which could shed more light on "the factors which have influenced performance".

Federal School Education Minister Peter Garrett said the report recognised the many steps taken by the Gillard government to improve the quality of school education.

"In particular, the report highlights the establishment of teaching standards, and teacher appraisal, as a major development to help ensure every school has suitably qualified teachers," he said in a statement.

But Mr Garrett acknowledged more work was required to ensure every Australian child had access to a better education.

The minister said the federal government was discussing the final details of its review for a new funding system with state and territory counterparts and the non-government school sector.

Mr Garrett said the plan would be presented at the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) meeting on April 19.

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Renters face prospect of paying more

RENTERS in Sydney, Perth and Darwin are set to pay more because those cities still lack sufficient housing, a study shows.

However rental growth in Adelaide, Hobart and Canberra is expected to remain subdued over the remainder of 2013, reflecting their weaker local economies, the latest Australian Property Monitors quarterly rental report says.

"Upward pressure on rents is set to continue in Perth, Darwin and Sydney as a chronic shortage of housing continues to put the rental bite on tenants in those cities," APM senior economist Andrew Wilson said.

Dr Wilson said demand for apartments would continue to rise in Sydney and Melbourne, driven by affordability constraints and lifestyle preferences.

But an increase in new apartments in Melbourne would offset rent rises.

APM also said the difference in rent for houses and rent for apartments was narrowing.

During the first three months of the year, house rents remained flat in most capital cities, except for Perth.

Darwin was the most expensive major city, with the median weekly asking rent for a house at $700.

The cheapest major city was Hobart, where the average rent for a house was $310 a week.

In Sydney, the weekly rent for a house was $500, and in Melbourne $360.

Rents for apartments over the March quarter moved up in Perth, Melbourne, Sydney and Adelaide, but were flat in Brisbane, Canberra, Darwin and Hobart.

Darwin was again the most expensive major city, with a median weekly asking rent for a unit of $550.

And Hobart was again the cheapest, at $250.

A unit in Sydney rented for $470 per week and an apartment in Melbourne at $360.

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Test-tube baby pioneer Robert Edwards dies

BRITISH scientist Robert Edwards, who was awarded a Nobel prize for his pioneering work in developing in vitro fertilisation (IVF), has died aged 87.

Edwards spent his career making the dream of having a baby come true for millions of people worldwide, running into conflict with the Catholic Church and fellow scientists on his way.

He was awarded the Nobel prize for medicine in 2010, three decades after the birth of the world's first test-tube baby, Louise Brown, in 1978, and five decades after he first began experimenting.

"It is with deep sadness that the family announces that Professor Sir Robert Edwards, Nobel prizewinner, scientist and co-pioneer of IVF, passed away peacefully in his sleep on April 10, 2013 after a long illness," the University of Cambridge said in a statement on Wednesday.

"He will be greatly missed by family, friends and colleagues."

Edwards was too frail to pick up his Nobel prize in Stockholm in 2010, leaving that to his wife Ruth, with whom he had five daughters. However, he remained a fellow of Churchill College at Cambridge until his death.

His work was motivated by his belief, as he once described it, that "the most important thing in life is having a child. Nothing is more special than a child".

"Bob Edwards is one of our greatest scientists," said Mike Macnamee, chief executive of Bourn Hall, the IVF clinic that Edwards founded with Patrick Steptoe, a gynaecological surgeon.

"His inspirational work in the early 1960s led to a breakthrough that has enhanced the lives of millions of people worldwide."

He added: "It was a privilege to work with him and his passing is a great loss to us all."

Born in Yorkshire in northern England on September 27, 1925, into a working-class family, Edwards served in the British army during World War II before returning home to study first agricultural sciences and then animal genetics.

Building on earlier research which showed that egg cells from rabbits could be fertilised in test tubes when sperm was added, Edwards developed the same technique for humans.

In a laboratory in Cambridge, eastern England, in 1968, he first saw life created outside the womb in the form of a human blastocyst, an embryo that has developed for five to six days after fertilisation.

"I'll never forget the day I looked down the microscope and saw something funny in the cultures," Edwards once recalled.

"I looked down the microscope and what I saw was a human blastocyst gazing up at me. I thought: 'We've done it'."

But Edwards and Steptoe, who died in 1988, were forced to defend their work in the face of severe opposition, from the media, the Catholic Church - and fellow scientists.

At a conference on biomedical ethics in Washington in 1971, the Nobel laureate James Watson, who with Francis Crick had discovered DNA, said IVF research would necessitate infanticide.

Addressing the conference, Edwards defended his work with the passion and energy that characterised all his work, and received a standing ovation.

He remained convinced to the end that the Catholic Church was wrong to object to IVF, saying clergy who condemn the technique were "totally mistaken".

"Catholics are told not to do it and yet Catholics go and do it. All the Popes have done for themselves is teach their people to disobey them," he argued.

Such was the controversy surrounding the birth of Louise Brown that her mother had to give birth in secret to avoid the media, but Edwards always spoke of it with great pride.

Celebrating Brown's 30th birthday in 2008, he said: "I think the whole thing is incredible."

"Few biologists have so positively and practically impacted on humankind," said Peter Braude, emeritus professor of obstetrics and gynaecology at Kings College London.

"Bob's boundless energy, his innovative ideas, and his resilience despite the relentless criticism by naysayers, changed the lives of millions of ordinary people who now rejoice in the gift of their own child. He leaves the world a much better place."

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Thatcher's son praises support for mum

MARGARET Thatcher's son Mark says his mother would have been "greatly honoured" by the presence of Britain's Queen Elizabeth II at her funeral next week.

In the first reaction from the family, Mark Thatcher said they had been "overwhelmed" by the messages of support they have received since the former British prime minister died on Monday.

"I would like to say how enormously proud and grateful we are that Her Majesty has agreed to attend the service next week in St Paul's," the 59-year-old said on Wednesday outside the Thatcher home in central London.

"And I know my mother would be greatly honoured as well as humbled by her presence."

Britain's prime minister from 1979 to 1990, Margaret Thatcher died on Monday following a stroke. She was 87.

Thatcher's two children - Mark and his twin sister Carol - were overseas when their mother died.

"By any measure, my mother was blessed with a long life and very full one," her son said.

However inevitable the conclusion may have been of her recent illness, "it is no easier for us to bear in what is, without doubt, a very sad moment."

Flowers and tributes have been left outside the house, as well as at Downing Street, in parliament, and at places associated with the political titan, such as her birthplace, her constituency, and at the street named after her in the Falkland Islands.

"We have quite simply been overwhelmed by messages of support, condolence, of every type from far and wide and I know that my mother would be pleased they have come from people of all walks of life," said Mark Thatcher.

"These messages often convey personal stories and vignettes of part of the journey of my mother's life and we are all enormously grateful for the warmth that these messages convey.

"They will be a source of encouragement and strength as we face the inevitable days ahead and for that I am most grateful."

Lady Thatcher will have a ceremonial funeral with full military honours - a step below a full state funeral, in accordance with her wishes - next Wednesday at St Paul's Cathedral in London.

Queen Elizabeth has not attended the funeral of any of her prime ministers since the state funeral of Winston Churchill in 1965, also held at St Paul's.

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Aust ranking falls in global IT survey

AUSTRALIA continues to fall in global rankings on how ready business and governments are to benefit from using information technology (IT).

In the 2013 Global Information Technology survey produced by the World Economic Forum (WEF), Australia ranked 18th of 144 nations, down one spot from the previous year and from ninth place in 2004.

The nation's ranking for individual IT use rose one spot to 15th, but dropped three places to 25th for business use and down 11 positions to 19th for government.

"This reinforces both the need for high speed ubiquitous broadband but importantly, the critical need to invest in lifting the skills needed to gain the greatest benefit from this infrastructure," Australian Industry (Ai) Group chief executive Innes Willox said in a statement on Thursday.

Mr Willox said businesses required confidence and knowledge to invest, and governments needed policies in areas such as skills, innovation, cutting red tape, cybersecurity and buying technology goods.

"Lifting productivity is front and centre of the economic agenda and ICT adoption is an important part of this challenge," he said.

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) estimated investment in information and communications technology (ICT) accounted for nearly a third of Australia's labour productivity growth between 2000 and 2009, he said.

Mr Willox said businesses wanted all political parties to support the rollout of high-speed broadband infrastructure.

The political battle over broadband policy has begun after the coalition launched its broadband proposal on Tuesday.

It promised a cheaper and quicker plan to build national broadband network than Labor's but critics say it will have slower broadband speeds.

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Kids spend too long watching screens

CHILDREN are spending more than half their spare time in front of a screen after embracing smart device technology, a study has found.

Tablets and smartphones have joined TV as the major entertainers of children, the New Generations study found.

Kids spend more than half their spare time in front of devices, sparking concerns children are not spending enough time interacting with real people and getting exercise.

More than half of the children surveyed had a smartphone and two-thirds of children have used an app device, the study found.

On average children are accessing 7.1 apps a month.

Children are abandoning gaming consoles - their use has dropped 32 per cent since the last survey in 2011.

Psychologist Professor Matthew Sanders said it was "extremely concerning" that parents are allowing their kids to spend so much time in front of a screen.

"Kids need to be able to amuse themselves in a whole variety of ways," he told AAP.

"I just reject he idea that because lots of kids are doing it, it is necessarily healthy or desirable.

"What is a much more preferable alternative is that children have closely monitored screen time and participate in activities that are age appropriate."

Prof Sanders said children should not spend more than two hours a day in front of a screen and should spend time doing things such as physical activity, talking to friends in person and reading.

But he said there is no doubt there are highly engaging applications on smart technology devices that have a very positive purpose.

Peter Hammer, a research manager for Turner Broadcasting System Asia Pacific, who conducted the study, said the combination of internet enabled devices was creating powerful ways to connect with children.

"Apps have redefined the way that parents are entertaining kids."

He said the rapid explosion of smart devices has changed the way children are accessing the internet and playing games.

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Irish cricketer sorry for Thatcher tweet

AN Irish cricketer has apologised after tweeting that he hoped Margaret Thatcher's death had been "slow and painful".

All-rounder John Mooney, who scored the winning runs in Ireland's historic win over England at the 2011 Cricket World Cup, has deleted the message.

On Tuesday, he used his Twitter account to apologise, saying: "I would like to apologise to anyone that I upset with my tweets yesterday regarding the death of Margaret Thatcher.

"I realise now that they were offensive to many and have deleted them. I'd like to assure my family, friends, employers and ... team mates that I have learned a very valuable lesson and in future will stick to focusing on my game!"

Cricket Ireland said Mooney had been instructed to delete the message by chief executive Warren Deutrom.

He described the comments as "crass, insensitive and offensive".

In a statement the organisation said it wanted to distance itself from Mooney's comments.

"Cricket Ireland have asked the player to remove the comments which have caused offence, and will consider appropriate disciplinary action in due course," it said.

Mooney made his first class debut for Ireland in 2004 and went on to play his first one day international in 2006 before the historic win over England at the World Cup in India.

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Swan calls out coalition on four pillars

TREASURER Wayne Swan is urging bipartisan political support for Australia's so-called four pillars banking regime, with the coalition signalling it could revisit the policy.

The nation's $3 trillion banking system revolves around four pillars, which support competition by preventing mergers between the big banks - National Australia Bank, Commonwealth Bank, ANZ and Westpac.

But shadow treasurer Joe Hockey said this month he wasn't a "rolled gold defender" of four pillars and planned to order an inquiry into banking sector competition if the coalition won office in September.

Mr Swan on Wednesday defended four pillars, saying it was the cornerstone of a financial and banking system that was one of the very best in the world.

"So you have to wonder at the motives of those calling for yet another financial system inquiry," he said in an address to a summit in Sydney.

"In the interest of the stability of our financial system, we must have a bipartisan consensus to end speculation that the four-pillars policy will be scrapped."

The anti-merger policy was originally set up by former Labor treasurer Paul Keating in the 1990s.

Since then, there have been infrequent, unsuccessful calls for it to be scrapped.

Critics argue it reduces competition because it doesn't stop the big four from buying smaller competitors, and unfairly insulates them from takeover by likely predators.

Mr Swan said it wasn't well known that just before the global financial crisis in 2008 there was growing pressure to end the four-pillars policy, which he subsequently reaffirmed.

"I thing everything we've learned since 2008 about systematically important financial institutions shows this decision was the right one," he will tell the Bloomberg Australia Economic Summit.

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First home buyers' deposit getting larger

THERE'S good and bad news for first home buyers - their loan repayments are shrinking but the amount needed for a deposit is rising.

Financial comparison website RateCity has found that while falling interest rates are forcing loan repayments down, they are also contributing to increased house prices.

It found the average house price in Australia has risen to $544,071, forcing up the cost of a 10 per cent deposit by $1,430 since last year.

For units, the national median price jumped to $413,179 adding a further $810 to the cost of the deposit.

However, falling interest rates have made mortgage repayments $195 a month cheaper.

"I suppose it's good for existing home owners that median prices are increasing but I think for new home buyers it's making it a little bit more difficult to get their foot in the market," RateCity chief executive Alex Parsons said.

While the higher deposits needed would be offset by smaller repayments, first home buyers still have to save more before they stepping onto the housing ladder.

"I suppose when you're scrimping and saving that is a significant amount of money but it is offset somewhat by the payback conditions on the interest rate side," Mr Parsons said.

"At $1,400 more to get in, you're saving about $2,400 in repayments over the course of the year."

First home buyers in Perth will have a tougher time with a 5.7 per cent increase in the median house price pushing the deposit needed up by $3,011.

Sydneysiders were also facing a greater than average increase with a 5.3 per cent jump in the median unit price inflating deposits by an extra $2,386.

Mr Parsons says while a 10 per cent deposit was all first home buyers needed, they should aim for double that amount.

"Borrowers should also aim to save at least 20 per cent of the value of the property to avoid lenders mortgage insurance," he said.

"The worst thing a borrower can do is rush into a home loan without an adequate deposit. It will end up costing more and can also come with higher risk."

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Even Thatcher's home town divided on her

EVEN in Margaret Thatcher's home town, where her lifelong beliefs were forged in her father's grocery shop, opinion was sharply divided about their most famous daughter.

Grantham, a 50,000-strong market town in Lincolnshire in England's East Midlands, is where Britain's first woman prime minister spent her formative years.

Born in 1925, it was here where the young Margaret Hilda Roberts was imbued with her economic and political outlook by her grocer father Alfred, a Methodist preacher and a local mayor.

Her conservative philosophies of individual liberty, not spending more than one can afford, a free market and seeing a job through, were forged on the shop floor and in the flat above.

The red-brick building sits on the Great North Road, the historic coaching route from London to York and Edinburgh.

A small plaque on the wall of the shop reads "Birthplace of the Rt Hon Margaret Thatcher, MP. First woman prime minister of Great Britain and Northern Ireland."

On Tuesday, the day after she died aged 87 following a stroke, a dozen bouquets of flowers lay outside the building, now the blue-painted premises of Living Health, a "chiropractic clinic and holistic retreat".

"An amazing lady", said a message attached to one bunch of daffodils.

Richard Davies, a 34-year-old local councillor for the party Thatcher dominated, the Conservatives, said she fired his interest in politics.

"She shaped the political landscape of this country. I went into politics because of her, because she wanted to do things differently."

But although the area is solid Conservative-voting country, Grantham townsfolk were far from unanimous in admiration for Thatcher.

"She was brilliant at first and then believed in her own myth," said Carolyn Drury, a 70-year-old who runs a theatre.

Outside the Guildhall, where the British flag flies at half-mast, Michael Blocksidge, 39, said: "I am glad she is dead... She closed down the mines and bought the coal from communist countries, our enemies. She was an elitist."

Paul Anthony Tales, a taxi driver in his 50s, said: "She did a lot of harm to the country. She destroyed communities and put hundreds of thousands of people out of work."

However, glowing tributes have been left to her in the town's two books of condolence, one at Grantham Museum and one at the local authority headquarters.

The one at the museum is just inside the entrance, next to a portrait of a smiling Thatcher and a tired-looking bouquet of white roses.

Helen Goral, the museum's chairman, explained: "The book gives a focal point for people where they can pay their respects. We've had calls from people asking us to write a word for them.

"I hope people make peace with her heritage. There is still a lot of anger about what she did.

"She is our most famous export. You can't argue that she was a very influential figure."

A message written by "Jonathan" reads: "You were courageous at a national level during difficult times.

"You must not let your endeavours and success of global significance be clouded by parochial small-mindedness. We are fiercely proud of you."

A man who left his name as Dennis wrote: "You did us proud", while another message read: "A very determined lady who was not always right but believed she had the right reasons."

"The greatest PM since Churchill," read a message from Peter.

Judy Smith, 70, who came to sign the book, said: "She was a world-respected leader. She could compete with men on an equal level. She completed changed the country for the better."

Charles Rolt, 89, a former sales manager, came along with his 79-year-old wife Pauline, both using walking sticks. They gave STG20 ($A29.50) towards the museum's appeal for donations for a Thatcher statue, which was launched last month.

"When she came to power, the unions were about to take power; she broke the unions to put us back on track," he said.

Though it sells Thatcher mugs, the museum's display on the "Iron Lady" is underwhelming.

It has a display case dedicated to the political icon, containing a pair of satin blue shoes, a blue crepe bag, a book on the former premier and a small porcelain effigy.

The case also contains a note she sent the museum reading: "From this town I have learned so much and I am proud to be one of its citizens."

The display sits between one dedicated to physicist Isaac Newton - who went to school in Grantham - and two on the canal.

"It does not do her justice no matter what your political views are. She deserves a more fitting tribute," said Goral.

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HP launch power-efficient computer servers

HEWLETT-PACKARD have launched a Moonshot system that uses smartphone-style chips to power compact, efficient data centre servers.

The California-based computer maker says Moonshot systems take up a fifth of the space of traditional computer servers and can cut energy use by as much as 89 per cent while costing about 77 per cent less to buy.

"With nearly 10 billion devices connected to the internet and predictions for exponential growth, we've reached a point where the space, power and cost demands of traditional technology are no longer sustainable," HP chief Meg Whitman said in a statement.

"HP Moonshot marks the beginning of a new style of IT that will change the infrastructure economics and lay the foundation for the next 20 billion devices."

HP says the new class of computer server is able to handle the challenges created by social networking, cloud computing, and gathering and analysing massive amounts of data.

Moonshot servers are powered by Intel Atom chips more commonly found in smartphones and tablets.

The servers were made available in the United States and Canada this week and will be released elsewhere in May.

HP is in the middle of a massive shift in strategy as consumers gravitate from traditional PCs to mobile devices, including tablets.

Whitman, who is spearheading the move, says the company - which is still the world's biggest PC maker - is making progress but more work is needed.

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Boy, 6, shot by 4-year-old in US

US authorities are deciding whether to charge anyone after police say a six-year-old was shot in the head by a four-year-old in New Jersey.

The older boy is in serious condition.

Authorities are still investigating how the younger child obtained the .22-calibre rifle from his family's home on Monday night.

Police Chief Michael Mastronardy says the children were outside the four-year-old's home when the boy went inside, got the rifle and shot the six-year-old about 15 metres away.

It's not clear if the four-year-old pulled the trigger or if the rifle accidentally discharged.

The parents of the four-year-old were home at the time.

No names have been released.

The shooting comes amid debate over gun control laws in the wake of the Connecticut school shooting.

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Australia seeks broad China relationship

PRIME Minister Julia Gillard says Australia needs a broad relationship with China, from three-way military exercises involving the United States to building better personal links with our largest trading partner.

Ms Gillard will use an address to a business lunch in Beijing later on Tuesday Australian time, on her final full day of her visit to China, to paint a detailed picture of the Sino-Australian relationship.

Richer links in education and training, action on climate change, more diplomatic activities, working on global issues at forums such as the G20 and more regular political talks are part of this.

But she will also flag further ties between the Chinese and Australian militaries.

Australia has an annual senior level dialogue between defence chiefs and about three years ago held joint live-fire exercises.

"Our shared interests in aid and development in the Pacific along with our growing naval co-operation and skills and experience in disaster relief and recovery will be a major asset to the region," Ms Gillard will tell the China-Australia Chamber of Commerce function.

"In the coming decade, our cooperation will continue to grow - over time we would like to see this extend to tri-lateral exercises, including with the United States."

But just as important was the link between suburban Australians and China's cultural development.

"When western Sydneysiders celebrated the Wanderers winning the Premiers plate in A-league football the weekend before last, they were also celebrating the club's qualification for the Asian Football Confederations Champions League in 2014," Ms Gillard will say.

"There is every chance the campaign will bring them to China and bring Chinese fans to Parramatta too ... it's distinctly possible the fans will share some of that Aussie beef and Chinese beer when they do."

Also on Tuesday, Ms Gillard will meet Premier Li Keqiang, following her first official meeting with President Xi Jinping on Sunday.

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Cold warrior who forged strong Reagan bond

MARGARET Thatcher was credited with restoring Britain's reputation on the world stage and her close bond with US president Ronald Reagan was seen as a key factor in ending the Cold War.

From "handbagging" European leaders in demanding Britain's money back to sending a task force to retake the Falkland Islands from Argentina, she cultivated the "Iron Lady" image to cunning effect.

When she took power in 1979 as Britain's first female prime minister, Thatcher had little experience and even less interest in foreign affairs, with her main priority being to shore up the crumbling economy.

But that same year she approved the deployment of US cruise missiles in Britain, despite mass protests at home, as part of NATO's efforts to counter what it saw as the growing threat from the Soviet Union.

When Reagan took office in 1981 she quickly formed a close bond with him.

Despite their different upbringings, the former Hollywood star and the shopkeeper's daughter shared a free-market economic philosophy and a deep mistrust of communism.

"I have lost a dear friend ... such a cheerful and invigorating presence," she said in a video eulogy after Reagan died in 2004. "Thank you for your presidency, thank you for your testament of belief."

But despite their shared distrust for Moscow and its allies, Thatcher was also the first Western leader to reach out to reformist Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev.

In 1984, three months before he took power, Thatcher met him and declared "I like Mr Gorbachev. We can do business together."

Her Cold War judgment was not always so forward looking, though, as she told Gorbachev that "we do not want a united Germany", just two months before the fall of the Berlin Wall in November 1989.

Yet it was a conflict over a windswept archipelago in the South Atlantic Ocean that was in many ways the making of Thatcher as a foreign policy player on the global stage.

British forces drove out Argentine invaders from the Falklands in 1982 despite Washington's refusal to offer any support - a sore point between Thatcher and Reagan - ending a long period of post-imperial military decline.

"We have ceased to be a nation in retreat," she declared afterwards.

Geopolitics professor Klaus Dodds of Royal Holloway University in London told AFP the effect of her stance over the Falklands was "to give successive prime ministers the confidence to project British forces into various other theatres".

"When you think about where Britain's gone after the Falklands - Bosnia, Sierra Leone, Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya - a lot of that has come off the back of the Falklands," said Dodds.

From then on she lived up to the nickname she was given by a Soviet newspaper after a tirade against the Soviet Union in 1976 - the Iron Lady - and deepened Britain's strategic relationship with the United States.

That toughness manifested itself particularly in her increasing opposition to growing European unification.

She had supported British membership of what was then the European Economic Community in 1975 but at a European summit months after she took office in 1979 she was taking on the French president Valery Giscard d'Estaing and German chancellor Helmut Schmidt over the amount Britain paid.

In a victory that has hung over her successors, Thatcher then won a budget rebate for Britain at a summit in 1984, when she said: "We are simply asking to have our own money back."

Europe became an "obsession" for her, said William Wallace of the London School of Economics, adding she became "less and less interested in compromise".

But it also led to her downfall.

In 1990, soon after she delivered an incendiary House of Commons statement vowing "No! No! No!" to increased powers for Europe, one of her closest allies, Geoffrey Howe, quit with a devastating resignation speech which blamed her entrenched Euroscepticism.

That triggered the chain of events that led to her quitting in November that year.

Summing up her foreign policy, Christopher Hill, director of the Centre of International Studies at Cambridge, said her economic policies had had more of an influence at an international level.

Hill told AFP she had a "short-sighted" view of international affairs and was too much under Washington's spell, much like her successor-but-one Tony Blair, who took Britain into Iraq alongside the United States in 2003.

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Labor may take new media changes to poll

COMMUNICATIONS Minister Stephen Conroy says Labor will consider what policies on media reform, if any, it will take to September's election.

The government withdrew four bills last month after it could not gain the support of the crossbenchers for them to pass the lower house.

Senator Conroy said the old policies were rejected by the parliament.

"We will work through it over the next month or two what we will consider taking to the election," Senator Conroy told ABC television on Monday night.

The four bills included proposals to introduce a new public interest test for media mergers and acquisitions and to establish an advocate to ensure press councils upheld standards and dealt with complaints.

Two non-contentious bills to reduce licence fees for commercial television broadcasters and make changes to the level of local content broadcast passed.

Senator Conroy said the failed bills were dead.

"That is no longer our policy," he said.

The minister slammed Sydney's Daily Telegraph for its story on the $37.4 billion national broadband network (NBN) on Monday.

The paper quoted coalition analysis suggesting the final cost of the NBN could push up to $90 billion and it would take an extra four years to complete.

"Let's be clear, today's Daily Telegraph is back to the bad old days, it's back to a campaign against the NBN Co, a campaign against the government," Senator Conroy said.

"The Daily Telegraph did not even seek comment from my office about these claims of $90 billion."

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UK still dominated by Thatcher legacy

MARGARET Thatcher's free-market reforms were controversial, but they fundamentally changed the British economy and still provide a yardstick against which her successors are judged.

During the 1980s, her Conservative government deregulated the financial markets, broke the power of the trade unions, privatised the utilities and the national airline, and promoted individual responsibility wherever possible.

Debate still rages about the impact of these changes, from supporters who say it put Britain on a more competitive footing, to detractors who say it wrecked communities and left the country exposed to the vagaries of the markets.

But like them or loathe them, the reforms had an enduring legacy in attitudes to work and welfare in Britain, and are now the point of comparison for all policies introduced by Thatcher's successors.

Ever since Conservative Prime Minister David Cameron begin introducing deep spending cuts following his election in May 2010, his efforts have been viewed through the prism of whether he is more or less radical than the Iron Lady.

Labour prime minister Tony Blair, in power from 1997 to 2007, was also branded an heir to Thatcher when he advocated bringing competition into public services.

But where that would have once been toxic for a Labour leader, the electoral success of Blair's New Labour project, which combined market-friendly policies with heavy investment in health and education, proved Britain had changed.

"Whether you like Mrs Thatcher or not, she changed the British economy forever and she also changed the way British people think about money, capitalism and enterprise," said Tony Travers, a lecturer at the London School of Economics.

But while proclaiming his admiration for Thatcher, who he received at Downing Street shortly after his election, Cameron has distanced himself from the more controversial aspects of his predecessor's policies.

Learning the lessons from a decade in opposition, he tried to soften his party's image, offering a vision of "compassionate Conservatism" that embraced the liberal principles but was more concerned about the social impact.

In retort to her claim that there is "no such thing as society", Cameron's supporters insist that there is - "it's just not the same as the state". And of course, he has joined a coalition with the centrist Liberal Democrats.

However, his plan for a "Big Society", which envisages transferring many state responsibilities to civil society, has echoes of Thatcher.

The coalition is also selling off the state-owned postal service the Royal Mail, and is mulling new strike laws to limit union action against the cuts.

Michael Portillo, a leading Conservative figure in the 1980s and 1990s, praised the coalition's "breathtaking" ambition to reform government practice and bring in economic changes "at least as challenging" as Thatcher's.

From which Travers concludes: "Cameron's supporters like to think he looks like her. The truth is he is a younger and more modern politician ... acting at a different time."

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US loses 'true friend': Obama on Thatcher

US President Barack Obama says after the death of former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher that America has lost a "true friend" and the world a champion of freedom and liberty.

"As an unapologetic supporter of our transatlantic alliance, she knew that with strength and resolve we could win the Cold War and extend freedom's promise," Obama said in a written statement.

Obama - who turned 29 and was elected editor of the Harvard Law Review in 1990, the year Thatcher lost power - said Britain's first woman leader was an example to girls that "there is no glass ceiling that can't be shattered".

"With the passing of Baroness Margaret Thatcher, the world has lost one of the great champions of freedom and liberty, and America has lost a true friend," Obama said.

"As prime minister, she helped restore the confidence and pride that has always been the hallmark of Britain at its best."

The US leader noted Americans would never forget Thatcher standing shoulder to shoulder with president Ronald Reagan to end the Cold War, and she was a reminder that the currents of history can be shaped with "moral conviction, unyielding courage and iron will".

"Michelle and I send our thoughts to the Thatcher family and all the British people as we carry on the work to which she dedicated her life - free peoples standing together, determined to write our own destiny."

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Thatcher's battle with dementia

IT is a sad irony that, during her time in power, Margaret Thatcher was renowned for her razor-like intellect and power-house memory.

No one at that time could have foreseen her later mental decline, least of all her daughter Carol.

In her memoir, A Swim-On Part in a Goldfish Bowl, Carol Thatcher told of her mother's "blotting paper brain" that effortlessly absorbed information.

But in a cruel twist of fate, Thatcher was destined to become one of the more than 820,000 people in the UK whose lives are blighted by dementia.

Although it has often been reported that she suffered from Alzheimer's disease, this has never been confirmed.

Alzheimer's is the most common of four principal kinds of dementia, affecting about two thirds of all those with the condition.

The second most common is vascular dementia, caused by reduced blood flow to the brain, followed by dementia with Lewy bodies and frontotemporal dementia.

All forms of dementia result in symptoms of memory loss, confusion, and mood changes that can be devastating not only for those affected but also the loved ones around them. In some cases, dementia can also lead to altered personality and hallucinations.

For more than a decade, Thatcher struggled with the cruel draining away of her mental faculties.

Carol broke the news that her mother had been suffering from dementia in 2008.

She first noticed her mother's memory failing over lunch in 2000, relating in her book how she "almost fell off her chair" with surprise.

As dementia tightened its grip, Thatcher frequently forgot that her husband, Denis, had died.

Thatcher's descent into dementia was dramatically - and some say, unfairly - depicted in the film The Iron Lady, with Meryl Streep playing the former British PM.

In her book, Carol Thatcher describes how the tell-tale signs of dementia slowly began to emerge.

"Whereas previously you would never had had to say anything to her twice, because she'd already filed it away in her formidable memory bank, Mum started asking the same questions over and over again, unaware she was doing so," she wrote.

After Denis Thatcher died from cancer in 2003, her mother continually had to be reminded that her husband had gone.

"I had to keep giving the bad news over and over again," said Carol Thatcher. "Every time it finally sank in that she had lost her husband of more than 50 years, she'd look at me sadly and say 'oh', as I struggled to compose myself."

On bad days her mother could "hardly remember the beginning of a sentence by the time she got to the end," she recalled.

Thatcher became patron of Alzheimer's Research UK, Britain's leading charity dedicated to dementia research, in 2001.

Rebecca Wood, the charity's chief executive, said: "The loss of Baroness Thatcher will resonate across the world, but in particular with the 820,000 people living with dementia in the UK. Irrespective of personal politics, few would dispute Lady Thatcher's profound influence, the power of her presentation and strength of her convictions.

"That dementia could affect such a forceful personality is a lesson that this cruel condition does not discriminate. As patron to Alzheimer's Research UK, her support of our research could not have been more important, helping draw attention to a condition so frequently swept under the carpet.

"Thanks to Lady Thatcher, we have made inroads with our research to defeat dementia. The answers will come too late for her, but they will come, and this will be another important part of our collective memory of her life and work."

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Liberals close in on SA: Newspoll

THE Liberals are closing in on South Australia - Labor's last-held mainland state - according to the latest Newspoll.

With federal Labor heading towards a September 14 election, primary support for the party's South Australian branch has slumped to 33 per cent, the survey shows.

Conducted over the past month and published in The Australian on Monday, the poll shows primary vote support for Labor dipped from 37 per cent in a quarterly October-December 2012 survey to 33 per cent in March, while Liberal support rose from 40 to 43 per cent.

On a two-party preferred basis, the Liberal Party meanwhile leads Labor 54 to 46 per cent.

The results come eight weeks after the state Liberal leadership changed from Isobel Redmond to Steven Marshall.

Support for Labor, which has held power in South Australia since 2002, now stands 4.5 percentage points lower than when it narrowly retained office at the 2010 election.

The Australian said if the result was replicated at the next state election, due next March, Labor would lose five MPs in marginal electorates and its majority in the 47-seat House of Assembly.

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Unis spend $280m a year on red tape

UNIVERSITIES estimate they spend $280 million a year on meeting red tape requirements like telling the government every time any academic travels overseas.

The Universities Australia submission to the coalition's deregulation taskforce calls for a comprehensive Productivity Commission review of the regulatory burden on tertiary institutions.

The sector also wants a single national university data centre to look after all information collection, as recommended in a government-commissioned report released last week.

"While we support the need for effective accountability, the existing regulatory and reporting regime is characterised by unchecked creep, duplication, fragmentation, inefficiency, and waste," Universities Australia chief executive Belinda Robinson said in a statement.

Most universities have between 15 and 20 staff whose sole job is to meet the regulatory requirements of 100 separate state and federal laws.

They have to report some 50 different sets of data to the federal tertiary education department multiple times each year, and another 50 types of data to different government agencies.

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Hayes and Mailman score silver Logies

ACTORS who brought the stories of real-life Australians to the screen have been recognised with Logies for the most outstanding actor and actress.

A teary-eyed Deborah Mailman was given a standing ovation in Melbourne on Sunday when she received the most outstanding actress award for her portrayal of Bonita Mabo in the made-for-TV movie Mabo.

"I got the chance to play the most extraordinary woman," Mailman said as she accepted the award with Bonita Mabo joining her on stage.

"It was a gift for me to meet this woman," Mailman said.

Mabo told the story of Eddie "Koiki" Mabo and his historic high court challenge to the myth of Terra Nullius.

"It was a story that was close to my heart, the fact that I got to play Bonita Mabo and for that to be recognised tonight was incredibly special," Mailman said, still teary, speaking to media after receiving her award.

Most outstanding actor Anthony Hayes dedicated his silver Logie for the portrayal of Bernie Banton in Devil's Dust to all the people who lost their lives to asbestos-related disease.

"I know it's not much but it's recognition for you and I just hope we stop mining asbestos and it never happens again," Hayes said when accepting the award.

Hayes has just finished shooting The Rover with fellow nominee Guy Pearce and said he thought it would have been the Nine Network's Kerry Packer juggernaut Howzat, and not Hollywood star Pearce, that would see him come undone in his bid for Logie glory.

"I told him I'd stick it to him and I did. There it is Guy," Hayes said.

"I've been acting since I was nine years old and this is my first lead."

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Direct trade for Aust, China currency

AUSTRALIAN and Chinese currency will be traded in China for the first time under a deal to be announced by Prime Minister Julia Gillard.

And a major tourism and investment campaign will be run in Shanghai in late 2014 to take advantage of China's booming middle class and fast-growing economy.

Under the currency agreement, the Australian dollar will be directly convertible into Chinese yuan, easing costs for mining companies and other global industries.

China only has deals of a similar kind with the United States and Japan.

"This reflects the rapid growth of our bilateral trade and the value of two-way investment - and it also creates opportunities for new financial integration," Ms Gillard will tell the China Executive Leadership Academy in Shanghai on Monday.

"This is good news for the Chinese economy and good news for the Australian economy."

Ms Gillard said she hoped the deal would advance China's policy of greater internationalisation of its currency.

The prime minister is in Shanghai leading Australia's largest political delegation, which includes Foreign Minister Bob Carr and Trade Minister Craig Emerson.

She said Australia Week, hosted by Shanghai in the second half of 2014, would further boost Australia's reputation as a world-leading destination and a valuable tourism, trade and investment partner.

Events will include contemporary performing and visual arts, a gala dinner in Shanghai and meetings with potential Chinese investors.

It will coincide with Tourism Australia's Greater China Travel Mission, which attracts more than 120 Australian tourism operators.

A record 625,000 Chinese visited Australia during 2012, up 16 per cent on the previous year.

Ms Gillard on Sunday held her first official meeting with Xi Jinping, who became China's president in March.

She also spoke at the opening of the Boao Forum on Asia.

The Australian delegation will head to Beijing on Monday night.

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Joy for Ten as Keddie wins Gold

OFFSPRING star Asher Keddie has given Network Ten something to celebrate after winning the Gold Logie.

Keddie had been twice nominated for a Gold Logie before claiming the highest individual honour at the annual television awards night in Melbourne.

Her win also eases the pain of Ten's disastrous 2012, when it sacked executives and dumped shows as ratings plummeted.

However, Offspring and Keddie have been a shining light in dark days for Ten.

The actress said she is very proud to be a part of the network and just being nominated was a win for the series and the station.

"Channel Ten is extremely proud of Offspring and could not be more supportive of us," Keddie told AAP.

"They don't interfere, they trust us and I wish nothing but the best for the network."

Keddie was a raging favourite to win the award after a betting plunge during the last week.

Her price was slashed from $11 into $1.25 when betting closed with bookmaker Sportsbet.com.au.

The bookmaker was not crying foul but said there had been a steady stream of money for the Offspring star.

The initial favourite was Andy Lee who drifted from $2.30 to $6, and last year's winner Hamish Blake was a $6.50 chance.

"Over half the money bet was on Keddie," Sportsbet.com.au spokesman Shaun Anderson told AAP.

"It was very steady over the last week and a half."

Keddie said she thought the award might not just be for her work on Offspring.

"It's a wonderful opportunity to say thank you to the audience who have watched me play a number of characters over a number of years," she said.

"I think this is for a body of work."

The Gold Logie was again tainted by controversy after News Ltd repeated its 2012 performance, releasing news of Keddie's win prematurely on The Australian and Adelaidenow websites.

Keddie also took out the Logie for Most Popular Actress and Home And Away star Stephen Peacocke was named Most Popular Actor.

Indigenous actor Deborah Mailman was extremely emotional when she collected the peer-voted Logie for Most Outstanding Actress for her role in Mabo.

Anthony Hayes, who starred in the ABC's Devil's Dust, dedicated his Most Outstanding Actor honour to those who have died and suffered from asbestos-related illnesses.

Foxtel finally cracked it for a Logie when it took out Most Outstanding Sports Coverage for the London 2012 Olympic Games.

The Nine Network claimed nine awards, the ABC claimed seven, Ten finished with four and Seven won three.

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