Rio cuts coal jobs at Hail Creek in Qld

Rio Tinto says it is cutting jobs at its Hail Creek open cut coal mine in central Queensland. Source: AAP

MINING giant Rio Tinto says it will cut jobs at its Hail Creek coal mine in central Queensland due to falling prices and higher costs.

Rio did not say how many positions would be affected, but said the move was part of its push to reduce costs and improve productivity across its mines.

"Like others in the Australian coal mining industry, Rio Tinto is facing the challenge of increasing costs and dropping coal prices," a Rio Tinto Coal Australia spokesman said.

"Some roles at Hail Creek Mine are no longer required as part of changes to ensure the mine is sustainable in challenging conditions."

The company, which employees 940 people at the mine, said it would be providing support to those affected.

The Hail Creek open cut mine exports more than seven million tonnes of coking coal to international customers each year.

Coal prices have dived in recent years.

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Hit skateboarder still 'very critical'

A young man hurt in a suspected hit-and-run in Sydney's east is still in a very critical condition. Source: AAP

A MAN critically injured while riding a skateboard in a suspected hit-and-run in Sydney's east isn't showing any signs of improvement.

Christopher Rhodes, 26, was hit by a car while skating home after work down a steep, wet Bronte street in the early hours of Wednesday morning.

Just hours later a suspect was stopped by police in Chatswood and questioned for 12 hours, before being charged with drug offences and released.

His car has been seized by forensic specialists and had some signs of damage.

The victim was taken to St Vincent's Hospital with head injuries after being found by paramedics lying unconscious in the middle of the road.

A hospital spokesperson told AAP on Thursday the young man's condition hasn't improved.

"He's still very critical," he said.

"He hasn't really improved."

Friends have left condolence messages on his brother's Facebook pages after he changed his profile picture to a happy snap of the two together.

"Come onnnnnnnnn Chris. I know you can, I know you can, I know you can. If YOU can't then there's not much hope for the rest of us," one friend posted.

Mr Rhodes' brother had been by the young bartender's side in hospital after the accident and was reportedly trying to contact their mother, who is believed to be abroad.

A former Randwick Boys High School student, Mr Rhodes is well-liked by his colleagues at the Sydney pub where he works, and was often the "life of the party".

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Slow NDIS roll-out: audit tells govt

The commission of audit has urged the government to slow down the roll-out of the NDIS. Source: AAP

AUSTRALIANS with a disability might have to wait a little bit longer for the complete roll-out of a landmark scheme designed to cover their care and needs, if the Abbott government accepts advice from its commission of audit.

A day before Prime Minister Tony Abbott meets with state and territory leaders to discuss progress of the national disability insurance scheme, the commission warns the implementation timetable is highly ambitious.

The NDIS is scheduled to be fully operational in 2018-2019, covering about 450,000 people with disabilities.

The commission acknowledges the worthiness of the scheme and the fact that it enjoys widespread community support and bipartisan political backing.

But it's concerned about early cost blow-outs at the four trial sites that began in July 2013, noting average package costs of $46,000 per year exceeded the $35,000 figure factored into the scheme's initial design and costing.

The NDIS Agency on Thursday insisted it was operating within its budget and had the capacity to meet the roll-out schedule.

The commission is not so sure, saying there was a risk of inadequate delivery of services to participants as well as significant financial risks to the scheme.

It recommends there is merit in pursuing a slower roll-out schedule.

It also wants government to take control of the scheme's budget, which it estimates will exceed $25 billion after 2019, arguing such an amount was too great a responsibility for an independent board.

The commission also questions whether the assessment of potential participants should be outsourced as it is now.

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MH370 relatives to be sent home

RELATIVES of those on board the missing Malaysia Airlines flight will be checked out of hotels and sent home to await updates on the search.

In a statement on Thursday evening, the airline said relatives would be sent home and Family Assistance Centres around the world would close on May 7.

"From past experience, we understand the continuing search and investigation would be a prolonged process," it said.

"While Malaysia Airlines is committed to continuing its support to the families during the whole process, we are adjusting the mode of services and support.

"Instead of staying in hotels, the families of MH370 are advised to receive information updates on the progress of the search and investigation and other support by Malaysia Airlines within the comfort of their own homes, with the support and care of their families and friends."

The airline said it would keep in close touch with the families via phone calls, messages, the internet and face-to-face meetings, and Family Support Centres would be established in Kuala Lumpur and Beijing.

The detailed plan of follow-up support and services would be passed on to families in person, Malaysia Airlines said.

The relatives of the 153 Chinese passengers on board the ill-fated flight have been up in arms about the airline's handling of the disaster, staging protests, threatening hunger strikes and labelling it a murderer, saying they would not accept the assertion that all on board are dead until physical proof is found.

MH370 went missing 55 days ago on the way from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing, with 239 passengers and crew on board.

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Inquiry to look at bank debt guarantee

An inquiry will look at whether a debt guarantee for the big four banks has distorted the market. Source: AAP

THE head of an inquiry into Australia's financial system says government backing of the big four banks during the global financial crisis may have given them an unfair advantage over smaller rivals.

Small lenders and the Department of Treasury have argued the wholesale debt guarantee for major banks helped to create an unfair playing field and allowed the big four to access funds more cheaply.

The chief of the federal government's financial system inquiry, David Murray, says there remains a perception Commonwealth Bank, ANZ, Westpac and National Australia Bank are too big to fail.

"The perception of the government as a backstop may provide competitive advantages for some and can distort prices at the same time," he told a lunch in Sydney.

"The GFC shifted public expectations of when and where governments will intervene; the question for us now is whether we are content to accept that shift."

Commonwealth Bank has argued there is no special treatment for the major banks, submitting to the inquiry there is general government support for the whole banking system.

Mr Murray said the inquiry, which will release an interim report in July, would focus on three issues: government intervention in the sector, the potential consequences of current financial system settings and potential drivers of change in the economy.

He also said he would like to see reduced regulation of the financial system.

"From here it would be a fantastic outcome if the regulation of our system was kept at its necessary minimum while the supervision of the system was kept at world's best practice," he said.

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Salvos bracing for hit to donations

The Salvation Army is bracing for a drop in donations following shocking child sexual abuse claims. Source: AAP

SHOCKING allegations aired during a child sexual abuse inquiry might prompt a drop in donations to the Salvation Army this year.

But the charity understands 2014 is a year for rebuilding trust, not for money.

"This year will be a difficult year for us," Major Bruce Harmer told AAP.

"But our focus is not necessarily on money this year."

Mr Harmer said this year's Red Shield Appeal was an opportunity to stand alongside the Australians who had supported the charity for so many years.

The appeal launch on Thursday came on the back of allegations of child abuse at Salvation Army homes.

The sickening claims heard during the Royal Commission into Institutionalised Responses to Child Sexual Abuse had subjected the charity to damning public scrutiny.

From the outset of the appeal launch, Commissioner James Condon addressed the elephant in the room.

"As I sat through the first hearing I felt shocked, ashamed and aggrieved at the abuse that happened in our children's homes at the hands of some officers of the Salvation Army and some employees," he told the audience.

"I have expressed to the nation and indeed to the world my unreserved apology, regret and shame at that which took place."

Australian actress Cate Blanchett and leading businessman David Gonski were in the audience to throw their support behind the Salvos.

The charity aims to raise $80 million this year, including $10 million over the two-day doorknock appeal on May 24 and 25.

The Salvation Army's leaders have urged Australians not to let their support for the not-for-profit organisation wane.

But Mr Harmer says if donations are down this year, and even next, their work will continue.

"If they are down for a number of years that would be quite understandable," he said.

"But we will continue to provide as many services as we can and help that million plus Australians who come knocking on our door every year."

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Whitehaven pushes ahead with new mine

WHITEHAVEN Coal sold less coal in the March quarter while battling low prices, but its flagship Maules Creek project is more than one-third complete.

The controversial NSW mine is the target of a long running campaign that has included legal action and human barricades to delay construction, in protest against the alleged destruction of the Leard State Forest.

More than 90 protesters faced court in Narrabri on Tuesday and a mother and son were arrested on Monday after chaining themselves to a gate at a Whitehaven site.

Whitehaven said construction progress at Maules Creek was 36 per cent complete and on schedule and budget.

First coal should be railed in March 2015 and the company was confident it would get Commonwealth approval for its biodiversity offsets package, which involves a package to balance the effects on flora and fauna.

The highly regarded $767 million project would more than double Whitehaven's production to 25 million tonnes a year.

Whitehaven produced 1.81 million tonnes in the three months to the end of March, down 29 per cent on a year ago.

It recently flagged a cut in full year production by up to eight per cent, to between 9.8 million and 10 million tonnes of saleable coal, due to operational problems.

Whitehaven sold 2.29 million tonnes for the March quarter, down five per cent.

It achieved a weaker average price for export thermal coal sales of $US75.19 a tonne, compared to the benchmark Newcastle index, which was down seven per cent to $US78.05 for the quarter.

The reasons included a well-supplied market with little disruption from weather related events, a lack of buying by China based coal customers from the seaborne market, and the end of the high demand northern hemisphere winter.

However, thermal coal demand was growing in South Korea, which is increasing coal in its energy mix, and analysts including Bell Potter have a positive long term view on the company, and coal generally.

Whitehaven shares had dropped 2.5 cents to $1.48.

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Two MPs allege Palmer approach

A Queensland MP has told police an envoy for Clive Palmer offered him an inducement to jump ship. Source: AAP

TWO Queensland government MPs have accused Clive Palmer's team of trying to lure them away from the Liberal National Party.

Mr Palmer says the claims made by MPs Michael Hart and Jason Costigan were made up by premier Campbell Newman, while police have looked at one of the accusations and will take no action.

Mr Newman, however, has stepped up his war with the mining magnate turned federal MP, arguing he needs to reveal the full truth.

Mr Hart on Tuesday alleged a Palmer United Party envoy tried to entice the Burleigh MP with financial sweeteners - an assertion refuted by the party's state leader Alex Douglas.

Also on Tuesday, Whitsunday MP Mr Costigan said a PUP member approached him a week later on April 16, but without a financial incentive.

"They said they could ... help me with my campaign if I was their candidate and rambled on how they needed one more MP to form the official opposition," he told AAP.

Mr Hart took his claims to police who said they had "concluded that, based on current available information, no further action will be taken".

Mr Hart said he cut short a conversation with a PUP official after being made an offer to become one of the party's leading candidates at next year's Queensland election.

"The words that were used I took as a form of inducement or that there was about to be an inducement. I didn't want that to happen," he told AAP.

Mr Hart's allegation has escalated the bitter feud between Mr Palmer and the LNP, with the mining magnate accusing Mr Newman of inventing the story.

"This is just concocted by the premier because he's going to be sued by me," Mr Palmer told AAP.

"He's just trying to mislead the press."

But a spokesman for Mr Newman says Mr Palmer is the one who needs to come clean after Dr Douglas confirmed the party approached Mr Hart.

"Mr Palmer denies inducements were offered to Mr Hart, but Alex Douglas has confirmed that Mr Hart was told that 'we would look after him if he joined us'," the spokesman said.

Dr Douglas says while contact was made, claims about any inducement are entirely false.

"It was basically to say: 'Michael we know you're not going to be preselected or endorsed by the party and if you want to have a career you are welcome to come and discuss that with us'," he said.

The latest claims follow Sunday's allegations by Mr Newman that Mr Palmer had tried to "buy" his government, and had offered inducements to successfully entice three renegade Northern Territory MPs to join his party.

Comment has been sought from Dr Douglas about Mr Costigan's claim.

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Partial eclipse ruined by cloud

IT was billed as the "super fat banana".

But Tuesday's rare partial solar eclipse was more like a rotten tomato.

Thick cloud blanketed most of the continent for much of the day, ruining any sustained view of the eclipse for astronomers and enthusiasts from Perth to Port Arthur.

At 4.14pm the moon nudged in front of the sun - causing a partial eclipse that experts predicted would darken the sky a little and make the sun look like a fat yellow banana.

The sky did turn dark on the eastern seaboard - but only because thick cloud and rain ruined the moment with less than heavenly timing.

"We got clouded-out on the east coast from the absolute moment the moon just touched the sun - it was incredible timing," Melbourne-based astronomer Dr Alan Duffy told AAP.

"The next eclipse in Melbourne of this quality will be 2028.

"So this was very disappointing."

Astronomical Society of Victoria media spokesman Perry Vlahos was equally miffed.

He didn't even go outside to check out the partial eclipse.

"I have given up all hope, the best optical telescope cannot see through rain and clouds," he added.

Tasmania should have given the best view of the eclipse - the further south you were the more of the sun would have been covered.

Members of the Astronomical Society of Tasmania gathered at the rainy Rosny Lookout in Hobart's east.

"We've actually got three telescopes here but at the moment they're sitting in the boots of cars," the society's Bob Coghlan told AAP.

"The committee are telling jokes and saying who brought the cloud-busting laser just to keep their spirits up."

Sydney Observatory had about 150 guests to watch the celestial activity.

Astronomer Andrew Jacobs said the partial eclipse was of little research value - scientists learn far more from full eclipses.

"We saw the very beginning of it, just a couple of minutes before it went into the clouds," he said.

West Australian residents had a slightly better view but only towards the end of the eclipse when some of the cloud cleared.

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Pakistan PM's gas cut off for unpaid bills

PAKISTANI authorities have disconnected gas supply to the prime minister's official residence and the national parliament secretariat over unpaid bills.

The move was part of a drive to recover unpaid bills from defaulters in a country facing a sever energy crisis, said an official of the state-run Sui Northern Gas Pipeline Limited.

The company said a bill of 4.7 million rupees ($A51,760) was due from the premier's residence in the capital Islamabad.

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif last week ordered authorities to get tough on defaulters to recover billions of rupees in unpaid bills, in what appeared to be the first such major initiative in the country's history.

The supply to the national parliament secretariat, offices of legislators, a federal court and a string of other government buildings was also disconnected for overdue bills totalling more than 20 million rupees, the official said.

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, whose party won parliamentary elections last year, promised to end the energy crisis that has caused power outages of up to 12 hours a day and shortages of gas for cooking and heating.

Power and gas theft is common in Pakistan and influential defaulters hardly face any legal action.

Also on Tuesday, Water and Power Minister Abid Sher Ali said he had ordered the suspension of electricity to the official residence of the president for not paying bills.

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Collette misses out on Tony Award nod

THERE will be no Tony Award for Toni Collette.

The Australian actress, along with her high-profile cast mates Michael C. Hall, Marisa Tomei and Tracy Letts in the play The Realistic Joneses, were among the high-profile snubs when nominations for Broadway's biggest awards night were announced on Tuesday.

Despite strong reviews, Collette was bumped out of the best performance by an actress in a leading role in a play category by Tyne Daly (Mothers and Sons), LaTanya Richardson Jackson (A Raisin in the Sun), Cherry Jones (The Glass Menagerie) and Audra McDonald (Lady Day at Emerson's Bar & Grill).

The American Theatre Wing was not swayed by Hollywood star power in deciding its nominees, with Denzel Washington, Daniel Radcliffe, Michelle Williams, Rachel Weisz, Rebecca Hall, James Franco and Zachary Quinto also among the casualties.

The big winner ahead of June 8's 68th annual Tony Awards was the musical A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder, with a leading 10 nominations.

In other categories, the Harlem nightclub revue After Midnight, Disney's Aladdin, Beautiful: The Carole King Musical and A Gentleman's Guide To Love And Murder will compete for best musical.

The Realistic Joneses was also left out of best play, with Act I, All The Way, Casa Valentina, Mothers And Sons and Outside Mullingar scoring the nods.

No even a surprise appearance by Jackman at the nomination ceremony could lift Collette to a second Tony nomination, after the Sydney actress scored a leading actress in a musical nomination in 2000 for her performance in The Wild Party.

"I'm sorry to hijack your show," Jackman, carrying an empty coffee mug and then reminding viewers the Tony Awards were on June 8, told nomination ceremony hosts Jonathan Groff and Lucy Liu after he strolled on stage.

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Six wounded in US shooting, suspect dead

A SHOOTER described as being armed with an assault rifle and having bullets strapped across his chest "like Rambo" opened fire at a FedEx station outside Atlanta, wounding at least six people before police found the suspect dead from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot.

Police rushed to the centre after someone called to report an active shooter at 5.54am local time.

After surrounding the perimeter and working to clear the building, officers found the suspect dead, Cobb County police spokesman Michael Bowman said.

There were no immediate reports anyone else had been killed.

FedEx clerk Liza Aiken said she was working inside when she heard something, dropped, looked to her left and saw the gunman.

"He had bullets strapped across his chest like Rambo, a huge assault rifle and he had a knife," Aiken said in a parking lot where employees were gathering not far from their workplace.

Before she could continue, a woman wearing a FedEx jacket told Aiken to stop talking and led her away.

Six people wounded at the FedEx station were taken to nearby Wellstar Kennestone hospital, where spokesman Tyler Pearson said one victim was rushed to surgery with potentially critical injuries. Others were less serious.

"A lot of them were able to walk off the ambulance," Pearson said.

David Titus, a FedEx truck driver, said he was just coming to work when he saw someone walk up and shoot a security guard in the abdomen outside the building.

He said he could hear more gunshots after the gunman went inside.

"It was chaos," Titus said.

"Everyone was running ducking and hiding, trying to get out of there."

FedEx said the facility about 40km north of Atlanta is a hub where packages are sorted and loaded onto vehicles for delivery.

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