Hockney aide drank toilet cleaner

IT remains a mystery why a 23-year-old assistant to British artist David Hockney drank lethal acidic toilet cleaner, but police have ruled out anyone else being involved, an inquest into his death has heard.

Dominic Elliott collapsed and died in March after drinking Knock-Out toilet and drain cleaner at Hockney's home in East Yorkshire, as well as having snorted cocaine and ingested other drugs, the inquest has heard.

"It does remain a mystery - for an intelligent young man to drink such a noxious substance," Detective Sergeant Thomas Napier of Humberside police told the hearing on Friday.

A post-mortem examination showed that Elliott, who was also a keen rugby player, had taken cocaine, ecstasy and the sleeping pill Temazepam before he died. He had also been drinking and smoking cannabis.

Hockney, 76, one of Britain's most celebrated living artists who is renowned for his acrylic paintings of Californian swimming pools, told the court in a statement on Thursday that Elliott was in a relationship with his own former partner, John Fitzherbert.

Fitzherbert still lived at the artist's seaside home, along with two other men working in the art industry.

Hockney himself was asleep in his own bedroom at the time, he said.

Fitzherbert told the court that he and Elliott had been drinking and smoking cannabis, and Elliott had snorted cocaine.

He said that as they lay in bed, "Dominic just got up from bed, ran towards the door laughing hysterically, and threw himself off the internal landing", which was nine feet (three metres) high.

The two later went to sleep, but Fitzherbert was awoken by Elliott standing in his underpants saying, "Can you take me to hospital?"

He saw the bottle of cleaner in the sink, but did not connect it with Elliott, driving him to hospital rather than calling an ambulance.

Elliott died from the effects of drinking sulphuric acid soon after arriving at the hospital on March 15, the inquest heard.

The acid severely burned his mouth, tongue and throat before perforating his stomach, a pathologist said.

Fitzherbert said Elliott "liked living on the edge" and had been upset because he was not included in a photo of Hockney and his studio staff taken by the US photographer Annie Leibovitz for Vanity Fair magazine.

Hockney said he was "completely unaware" of what the pair had been doing that day and knew Elliott "professionally" rather than socially.

The coroner was expected to present his findings later on Friday.

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Cane fields to be set ablaze in Cairns

A practice of burning off cane fields before harvest is being demonstrated at the Cairns Festival. Source: AAP

FARMER Jeff Pezzutti remembers watching raging fires rip through cane fields in far north Queensland as a child.

"Those flames could jump anywhere up to 15 metres or more," the 76-year-old told AAP.

"You'd see the rats and snakes coming out of the fields trying to get away.

"It was spectacular and generated a lot of heat."

As the practice is rarely used these days, Mr Pezzutti is looking forward to watching the spectacle on Saturday evening when a cane field at Yorkeys Knob, north of Cairns, is burned as part of the Cairns Festival.

Burning cane fields was a common sight from the 1930s when Mr Pezzutti's father worked as a cane cutter in Innisfail, south of Cairns.

"My father cut cane in the old days when you had to cut cane by hand and load it by shoulder," he said.

"It was a very difficult job, back-breaking work."

The cane fields were set alight to burn off the plant's exterior, making it easier for farmers to cut the cane.

With many cane cutters off fighting in the war, burning the fields also meant harvesting required fewer men.

Cutting green cane (plants that hadn't been burned) was also becoming less popular because cane cutters were dying from disease they caught by coming into contact with rat urine in the cane fields.

Mr Pezzutti says burning the cane was a tricky task and only those who were specially trained light the fires.

"Wind is a major factor... people have died during cane fires," he said.

In the 1980s to 1990s the practice was no longer necessary with the introduction of machinery that could slice through the green plants.

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Labor's credibility is shot, says Hockey

Treasurer Chris Bowen (R) is standing by his claim there is a hole in the coalition's savings. Source: AAP

SHADOW treasurer Joe Hockey says Labor's credibility has been blown after the government claimed there's a $10 billion shortfall in the coalition's proposed budget savings.

With just over a week to go before the election, Treasurer Chris Bowen was standing by his statement there was a "black hole" in the coalition's $31.6 billion savings plan.

"We stand by every word," Mr Bowen told the Seven Network on Friday.

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and Mr Bowen on Thursday accused the coalition of mounting a "$10 billion fraud" on the Australian people.

This was based on previous advice to the government from the departments of Treasury and Finance, and the Parliamentary Budget Office (PBO).

Labor found fault with the savings the coalition expects from shedding 12,000 public servants, ending the low income superannuation contribution and from abolishing the carbon tax.

But in an extraordinary move, the heads of Treasury and Finance distanced their departments from Labor's statements, saying they had never assessed any coalition policies.

"At no stage prior to the caretaker period has either department costed opposition policies," Treasury's Martin Parkinson and Finance's David Tune said in a joint statement.

PBO head Phil Bowen also issued a statement, saying when a party chooses to publicly release a PBO costing prepared on a confidential basis "it is inappropriate to claim that the PBO has costed the policy of any other parliamentarian or political party".

Opposition Leader Tony Abbott told ABC radio Mr Rudd's claims had blown up in his face.

Asked on Friday if Labor had lied about the black hole, Mr Bowen said: "Absolutely not".

Mr Hockey should "come clean" and release the coalition's full costings if he was so sure Labor was wrong, Mr Bowen added.

Mr Hockey said the government had been lying in the weeks and months before the September 7 election.

"What they've done is they've blown an absolute hole in Kevin Rudd and Chris Bowen's credibility and honesty," he told the Seven Network.

Opposition campaign spokesman Christopher Pyne said Mr Rudd's re-election campaign was in "tatters".

Former Liberal treasurer Peter Costello described it as an attempted knockout that had badly missed.

"Kevin Rudd's gone for a big haymaker and hit the referee on the way through, and the referee has said foul," Mr Costello told the Nine Network.

But Deputy Prime Minister Anthony Albanese rejected this.

"The way this can be solved is for the opposition to have all of its policies costed. We have put dozens of policies into the Treasury and Finance in accordance with the Charter of Budget Honesty," he told the Nine Network.

Mr Rudd is in Perth on Friday to announce a returned Labor government will have a new cities minister.

Mr Abbott is in Melbourne, spruiking his $100 million program to allow more people from Asian countries to study in Australia, and vice versa.

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Fire closes MasterChef host's restaurant

A fire has damaged MasterChef judge George Calombaris' restaurant in Melbourne's inner suburbs. Source: AAP

A FIRE around a pizza oven has damaged one of MasterChef judge George Calombaris' Melbourne restaurants.

Around 170 people fled St Katherine's in Kew on Friday when the fire erupted around the outside of the wood-fired pizza oven.

Firefighters spent three hours dousing the smokey blaze as it spread into an upstairs storeroom and roof, causing significant damage.

Melbourne Fire Brigade Commander Frank Stockton thanked staff at the Middle Eastern restaurant for getting everyone out safely without injury.

The restaurant will be closed over the Father's Day weekend due to smoke damage.

No opening date has been announced.

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Four die on NSW roads in 24 hours

A MAN has become the fourth person to die on NSW roads in 24 hours after he was struck by a car in Sydney inner-city suburb of Redfern.

It's believed the man, who is yet to be identified, was struck by a Toyota Camry as he tried to cross the road at 8.40pm (AEST) on Friday.

He was taken to the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

The male driver of the Camry was taken to Sydney Hospital for mandatory blood and urine testing.

A report will be prepared for the coroner and investigators are appealing for any witnesses who have not yet spoken to police to come forward.

A woman and a young girl died in a three-car smash in northern NSW on the Bruxner Highway at Wollongbar.

The woman aged in her 20s and a young girl travelling with her died at the scene after their car collided with two other cars heading in the opposite direction on Friday afternoon.

Two other people from one of the other cars suffered minor injuries and were taken to Lismore Hospital in a stable condition.

The other fatality was in a head-on collision between a car and truck on the Barton Highway at Wallaroo, about 4km north of the ACT border at 4pm (AEST) on Friday.

The driver of the car, a woman in her 60s, died at the scene, police said.

The truck driver was extracted from the truck, treated by paramedics and taken to Canberra Hospital.

Police will prepare reports for the coroner on both crashes.

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Kate makes first public appearance

THE Duchess of Cambridge has made her first public appearance since the birth of Prince George as she joined husband William at an event on Anglesey.

The new parents took time off from changing nappies and nursing their six-week old son, described as a "little rascal" by his father, to meet and speak to runners and organisers of a gruelling marathon event which takes place annually on the island.

Kate wore black skinny jeans, a sage jacket and platform heels and was described as looking "absolutely gorgeous" by locals attending the event.

It is expected to be one of William and Kate's final public engagements on Anglesey as the new father's time on the island comes to an end and the young family move to London.

William was acting as starter for the race, called the Ring O' Fire and described as an "ultra" marathon - a three-day, 217km foot race around the rugged coast of Anglesey.

On a walkabout before the race, the royal couple shook hands and spoke to spectators at the event, Kate's long brown hair blowing about in the blustery wind beside the coast.

The Duchess was introduced to Sarah Bingham, 38, from Twickenham, southwest London, whose husband James is the founder of the race.

Bingham, who is herself 37 weeks pregnant, said: "Kate said 'Congratulations' and I was just saying about being on borrowed time at 37 weeks.

"They are both really lovely people, really genuine. It was nice to speak to her after what Kate's just been through. She looks wonderful, doesn't she?

"I said 'How's he (George) doing?' She said 'He's doing really well, he's with his grandma'."

Park warden Will Stewart also spoke to Kate.

"She seemed genuinely interested in doing some walking," he said.

"Especially after the baby, she wants to get back into shape.

"I said, 'You don't need to worry about that!' She looked great."

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