Aust wants Western coalition on Iraq

AUSTRALIA would likely only commit warplanes to strike Islamic State terrorists in Iraq as part of a coalition involving the US and other nations, the head of a leading strategic think tank says.

PETER Jennings, executive director of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, said the possibility of greater US involvement was being debated in Washington.

"In order for Australia to become involved, we'd need to see a concerted Western approach, which would involve the US, UK, possibly France and maybe one or two other countries," he told ABC TV.Mr Jennings said Australia committed 14 F/A-18 Hornet aircraft to take part in the 2003 invasion of Iraq. They conducted about 300 missions.He said the RAAF's new Super Hornets were significantly more capable and would likely be the aircraft of choice for such a deployment.Mr Jennings said it was imperative the West took appropriate steps to deal with the Islamic State."This is a group which cannot be allowed to consolidate power. It presents too great a risk to too many countries and in time something will need to be done," he said.

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HSU boss Williamson's foul tirade on tape

FORMER Health Services Union supremo Michael Williamson used a foul-mouthed tirade to accuse another official of treachery as he sought to retain control of the union he defrauded of millions of dollars.

A TAPPED phone call between Mr Williamson - who was jailed in March for five years - and current HSU secretary Gerard Hayes was played on Tuesday to the Royal Commission into Trade Union Governance and Corruption.

In an expletive-laden blast, Mr Williamson accused Mr Hayes of "f***ing treachery" for not warning him the federal government was about to appoint administrators to the scandal-ridden union."Well mate, you've just f***ing blown the whole f***ing house up mate," Mr Williamson said in the April 4, 2012, phone call."The whole f***ing house up because of your f***ing paranoia about stuff that's not there."Mr Williamson had stepped aside as national president at the time, pending an investigation into his systemic defrauding of HSU finances.Mr Hayes told the commission on Tuesday that Mr Williamson controlled the organisation even after he had left the top position."He was still in the vicinity and he was still directing things," Mr Hayes said."Was I happy about that? No."In the phone call, Mr Williamson told Mr Hayes it was impossible for the government to appoint administrators to the union and expressed outrage that he and acting general secretary Peter Mylan had not been consulted when the warning about possible administration came the day before.An administrator was appointed to the HSU East branch the following June."I thought we were mates. And you went around and you tried to f*** around Peter and f*** around me," Mr Williamson said.Mr Williamson claimed he had senior barrister Ian Temby QC, who was investigating him on behalf of the union "on the f***ing rack".Three months later Mr Temby's devastating report was leaked and revealed $20 million in questionable payments from the HSU East branch controlled by Mr Williamson, including $5 million paid to companies linked to the union boss.Two other intercepted calls were played at the commission.In one call, Mr Williamson called Mr Hayes on January 27, 2012, and criticises the then-HSU national secretary Kathy Jackson, who helped expose his corruption and is now facing questions about her own use of union finances before the commission."She's gone f***ing troppo," Mr Williamson said about a media release issued by Ms Jackson defying a ban on her speaking about a Fair Work investigation into the union.Outside the commission, Mr Hayes said Mr Williamson had continued to influence the union beyond April 2012."Elvis never left the building," he said.The hearing continues on Wednesday.

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Asylum seeker sent back to Afghanistan

AN asylum seeker is believed to be the first to be sent back to Afghanistan under the coalition government after losing a last-minute legal battle to remain in Australia.

THE 29-year-old Hazara man, know only as SZUYW, said "please help me" when told through an interpreter that the court wouldn't block the government's plan to deport him.

"I can only apply the law as I see it," Judge Nicholas Manousaridis replied during the brief judgment in the Federal Circuit Court."The application for an order that the applicant not be removed is dismissed."Refugee Action Coalition spokesman Ian Rintoul said the man, who arrived in Australia in 2011, was due to fly to Afghanistan at 9.40pm (AEST) on Tuesday.He fled Afghanistan afraid he would be harmed by the Taliban, the court heard."It will be the first forced removal of an Afghan asylum seeker to Afghanistan," Mr Rintoul said.Several applications for ministerial intervention were lodged by the man when his asylum claim was being assessed, the court heard.But only the Refugee Review Tribunal has the power to determine someone's immigration status and it denied the man in December 2012.Since then conditions in the man's home district, Jaghori, have deteriorated, Mr Rintoul said."It makes no sense to send an asylum seeker back to Afghanistan when the country's descending into war," he told reporters after the hearing.Judge Manousaridis said: "The security situation in that district is reasonably stable relative to other parts of Afghanistan."There was not a real risk the applicant will suffer real harm in that district."Another Hazara asylum seeker was last Thursday deported to Pakistan.

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NT abuse hearing to be held in September

A HOME in the Northern Territory where mixed-race and Aboriginal children were sexually assaulted over three decades will be the focus of the next hearing to be held by the national inquiry into child abuse in institutions.

THE hearing scheduled for Darwin on Monday, September 22 will hear from men and women who were sexually abused as children at the Retta Dixon Home between 1946 - 1980.

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse will also examine how the evangelical administrators of the home, the NT and commonwealth governments responded to allegations of abuse against workers who were employed at the home.The home was run by Aborigines Inland Mission (AIM) which was founded in 1905 by a Baptist missionary, Retta Long (nee Dixon).It began work in the Northern Territory in the 1930s and ran the Retta Dixon Home at Bagot Reserve.In 1998 the organisation changed its name to the Australian Indigenous Ministries.The hearing, which is expected to run for two weeks will look at the response of the NT's police force and the Director of Public Prosecutions in 1975 and 2002 to allegations raised by residents of the Retta Dixon Home against Donald Henderson, who was a house parent at the home from 1964 - 1975.The commission will also inquire into current NT laws and policies governing children in out-of-home care as well as redress schemes available to the Retta Dixon Home abuse victims.The NT inquiry is the last one listed on the published 2014 schedule of the commission.Other hearings are planned but it is still awaiting a government decision on a requested two-year extension until 2017 and a $104 million increase in funding before it locks in its schedule.Unless it gets the extra money and time extension, private sessions, beyond those already scheduled, cannot continue, the commission has said.Prime Minister Tony Abbott has signalled that the request is likely to be granted."I'm confident that we will be able to respond to the royal commissioners' wishes.""We want it to do its job. We've supported it every step of the way ... It should finish its job," he said in a radio interview last week.

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Car job loss estimate optimistic: Ai Group

40,000 jobs to go as car making in Australia ends and component makers adjust to the loss. Source: AAP

AUSTRALIA'S peak manufacturing body believes the Productivity Commission is being optimistic predicting just 40,000 car sector job losses.

AUSTRALIAN Industry Group (Ai Group) thinks the commission's expectation that 60 per cent of the car parts sector will survive is fanciful.

The new Productivity Commission report on the automotive sector seriously underplays the impact of the end of car making in Australia and should be treated with caution, Ai Group chief executive Innes Willox says."This isn't just another minor adjustment to the economy," Mr Willox says in a statement."It represents the virtual closure of an entire industry. This will happen within a relatively short span of time and it will affect a large number of businesses, employees and communities."The commission says $30 billion of taxpayer assistance to carmakers between 1997 and 2012 had only delayed the significant structural adjustment now facing the industry.Australian carmakers were unable to survive in the highly-competitive global and domestic market, with Ford, Holden and Toyota all announcing they will cease local manufacturing by the end of 2017."It is estimated that up to 40,000 people may lose their jobs as a result of the closure of the motor vehicle manufacturing plants and the rationalisation of firms in the supply chain," the commission report says on Tuesday.Mr Willox said that assessment, based on job losses for 80 per cent of the carmaker workforce and 40 per cent of the component supply chain, seemed optimistic.The Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries estimates up to 90 per cent of the industry would close or move offshore.Mr Willox says the commission's assessment that 60 per cent of component makers would be able to move into exports or other industries with no extra government assistance seemed fanciful."These markets are already crowded and are extremely competitive, with many auto components suppliers already operating in them," he said.The assessment that two-thirds of the 40,000 retrenched workers would find another job seemed to be based on the experience of 700 Mitsubishi workers retrenched in 2004."This time around, there will be far more displaced auto workers in a very concentrated geography and with far fewer local alternative employment options," he said.Labor industry spokesman Kim Carr said the real jobs impact would be closer to 200,000, not 40,000.Hardest hit would be Victoria, where 100,000 jobs could be lost."Welfare payments and lost tax revenue from an industry shutdown are projected to exceed $20 billion and it will be more than 10 years before the economy recovers from the underlying hit to GDP," he said in a statement.Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries chief executive Tony Weber welcomed the government's pledge that Australia would not become a dumping ground for other countries' second-hand cars.The report recommended progressive relaxation on restrictions on imports of used passenger and light commercial vehicles.

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Bullock, the senator for shop assistants

CONTROVERSIAL former union heavyweight Joe Bullock may have tested Labor's tolerance in his first missive in the Senate.

WITHOUT specifically mentioning the Abbott government's abandoned plans to amend section 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act, Senator Bullock hinted at his sympathy to changes to the law and railed against political correctness.

His own party has staunchly opposed the government's plan, arguing it would give licence to bigotry."To be tolerant of your views, I don't need to pretend that you're just as right as I am, but rather to accept that you have the perfect right to hold a view that I believe to be wrong even if I find your view offensive," Senator Bullock told the upper house on Tuesday.The socially conservative senator reflected on his party's status as a broad church with tolerance of members with diverse views."It tolerates me," he said.He would be a "senator for shop assistants" and Western Australia and called for a greater GST carve-up for his state.He was the only Labor senator elected following the WA Senate re-run.Senator Bullock rolled former Labor senator Louise Pratt in a factional power play to gain the party's top spot on the senate ticket.He praised her as tireless advocate for many causes but the acknowledgement is not likely to be much consolation to Ms Pratt, a lesbian who, when conceding defeat, attacked his homophobic views and questioned his party loyalty.Senator Bullock also paid respect to the "finest politician" he knew - the late senator Brian Harradine - during his first speech.Senator Harradine was expelled from the ALP in 1975 for claiming it had links to the communist movement.He went on to hold the balance of power in the Senate in the 1990s as an independent and won concessions for Tasmania from the Howard government."He was a man of principle, a man of faith, a man determined to make a stand for the values that he held dear," Senator Bullock said.Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees Association union head Joe de Bruyn, former Labor senator Don Farrell, and Labor frontbenchers Joel Fitzgibbon and Andrew Leigh were present for the speech.

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Med-tech industry is booming in China

Stabbed teen was Islam gang member

A MEMBER of a self-styled radical Islamic street gang is recovering in hospital after he was stabbed at a Western Sydney birthday party.

$15 million for a fracking fuss

A DECISION by the energy minister to halt drilling at a coal seam gas site could cost the state government $15 million as a compensation payout.

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Inbetweeners 2 pushes Guardians into No.2

Inbetweeners 2, which was filmed around Australia, has topped the local box office over the weekend. Source: AAP

THE lads from the Inbetweeners sequel have scored first place at the Australian box office in their opening weekend, toppling Guardians of the Galaxy.

THE Inbetweeners 2, which was filmed around Australia, debuted with $3.155 million, according to the Motion Picture Distributors Association of Australia.

Its success meant the latest Marvel film Guardians of the Galaxy fell into second with $2.733 million, after two weeks at No.1.Also dropping one place was Helen Mirren's new flick The Hundred-Foot Journey, now in third, while Lucy, starring Scarlett Johansson, remained in fourth place.Sylvester Stallone's The Expendables 3 slipped two places to No.5.The first Doctor Who episode of series 8, Deep Breath, has been screening in cinemas for fans and hauled in $629,219 from Thursday to Sunday to take sixth spot.It pushed Mark Ruffalo/Keira Knightley muso flick Begin Again down one place into No.7, while Dwayne Johnson's take on Hercules fell two spots to eighth.Freedom, starring Cuba Gooding Jr and helmed by Aussie theatre star Peter Cousens in his directorial debut, opened in ninth place.And rounding out the ladder in 10th spot was slow-burn thriller A Most Wanted Man, starring Philip Seymour Hoffman in one of his final roles.TOP 10 FILMS FOR THE WEEKEND OF AUGUST 21-24:1. The Inbetweeners 2 - $3.155 million (Roadshow)2. Guardians of the Galaxy - $2.733 million (Walt Disney)3. The Hundred-Foot Journey - $1.763 million (Walt Disney)4. Lucy - $1.142 million (Universal)5. The Expendables 3 - $900,710 (Roadshow)6. Dr Who: Deep Breath - $629,219 (Sharmill)7. Begin Again - $306,429 (Roadshow)8. Hercules - $136,562 (Paramount)9. Freedom (II) - $124,356 (Heritage)10. A Most Wanted Man - $120,586 (Roadshow)

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US hostage freed after 22-month ordeal

Theo Curtis, a US man held hostage by an Islamic rebel group in Syria for two years, has been freed. Source: AAP

AN American hostage held by rebels in Syria for 22 months has been freed after Qatari mediation, just days after a video showed a fellow US journalist beheaded by jihadists.

"FINALLY he is returning home," US Secretary of State John Kerry said, confirming the release of Peter Theo Curtis, a 45-year-old author and freelance journalist whose disappearance had not been previously reported.

Curtis was handed over to UN peacekeepers in the Golan Heights on Sunday and after undergoing a medical checkup was transferred to US representatives, the United Nations said.News of his release came less than a week after a grisly video surfaced showing the beheading of American reporter James Foley at the hands of a masked Islamic State militant."Particularly after a week marked by unspeakable tragedy, we are all relieved and grateful knowing that Theo Curtis is coming home after so much time held in the clutches of Jabhat Al-Nusrah," Kerry said, referring to the Al-Nusra Front, another Islamic rebel group operating in Syria.Kerry said the United States had reached out to more than two dozen countries for help in securing Curtis's release, and that of any other American held hostage in Syria.US National Security Adviser Susan Rice said she expected Curtis to be reunited with his loved ones shortly.Curtis' family thanked both the governments of the United States and Qatar, as well as others who helped negotiate his release."My heart is full at the extraordinary, dedicated, incredible people, too many to name individually, who have become my friends and have tirelessly helped us over these many months," his mother Nancy said."Please know that we will be eternally grateful," she added, pleading for privacy.According to the family's statement, Curtis was captured shortly before he crossed into Syria in October 2012 and was held since then "by the militant group Jabhat al-Nusra or by splinter groups allied with Jabhat al-Nusra."The Islamic State and Al-Nusra, which both have thousands of fighters in their ranks, are rooted in Al-Qaeda in Iraq but the two groups have been openly at war with each other in Syria since early this year.Details of Curtis's release remain unclear.His mother said the family was "repeatedly told by representatives of the Qatari government that they were mediating for Theo's release on a humanitarian basis without the payment of money."The New York Times reported the family was introduced by Washington's UN envoy, Samantha Power, to her Qatari counterpart.On the heels of false starts and pricey ransom demands ranging from $US3 million ($A3.25 million) to $US25 million ($A27.05 million), the family told the newspaper that there was progress after Qatar got involved.Describing him as a published author and freelance journalist from Boston and Vermont, the family statement said Curtis writes under the name Theo Padnos.Curtis' mother recalled Foley's fate, saying she had got to know the late journalist's family."We are so relieved that Theo is healthy and safe and that he is finally headed home after his ordeal, but we are also deeply saddened by the terrible, unjustified killing last week of his fellow journalist, Jim Foley, at the hands of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria," she said.Rice also referenced Foley's killing, which she said "shocked the conscience of the world".The United States, she said, "will continue to use all of the tools at our disposal to see that the remaining American hostages are freed.""We will continue to work tirelessly on behalf of all Americans who are held overseas so that they can be reunited with their families as well."

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Libs open nominations for Hawthorn

THE Victorian Liberal Party is a step closer to choosing its candidate for the safe Liberal seat of Hawthorn, announcing that it will open nominations for the seat held by retiring former leader Ted Baillieu.

LIBERAL Party Victorian state director Damien Mantach said its administrative committee agreed to open nominations for the seat until September 2.

The administrative committee will then conduct preselection for the seat on September 4, he said in a statement.Premier Denis Napthine's legal counsel John Pesutto and Institute of Public Affairs executive director John Roskam are reportedly front-runners to take over in the prized seat from Mr Baillieu, who will quit politics at the November 29 election.Dr Napthine says he will not interfere in the seat's preselection process.He also would not say whether he had spoken to government frontbencher Mary Wooldridge about nominating or whether he would support her if she did."We have a large number of people in the Liberal Party who may wish to indicate their involvement in that seat. I think it would be premature to make judgments about who may or may not be the best candidate," he said.Earlier this year Dr Napthine backed a plan for Ms Wooldridge to move to the seat of Kew, after her seat of Doncaster was abolished.But in an embarrassing loss for her and the premier Ms Wooldridge failed to win the preselection battle.Ms Wooldridge is set to contest an upper house seat in November, after one of the three Liberal members for the Eastern Metropolitan Region, Jan Kronberg, decided not to recontest her position.City of Ballarat Mayor Josh Morris has been selected as the new Liberal candidate for the Western Victoria Region, the party also announced.

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Workers misspell bus as 'bup' in UK

BRITISH workmen have managed to misspell the word 'bus' during roadworks.

"BUP stop" was painted on to the road surface in Bristol in large yellow lettering at the end of last week, with the stencilled letter P used instead of S.

The mistake was made as part of road repairs which are likely to last up to four weeks in the Old Market area of the city centre.

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Coalition narrows Labor's slim poll lead

THE federal coalition has narrowed Labor's slim lead in the latest Newspoll, which also shows voters are overwhelmingly in favour of the government's proposed terror travel laws.

THE poll, published in The Australian, shows the coalition has picked up one point in the past fortnight in the two party-preferred results, trailing Labor 51 per cent to 49 per cent, but is still 4.5 points below its election result last year.

There has been no change in the primary votes of the two major parties since the previous Newspoll, with the coalition on 40 per cent and Labor on 34 per cent, however the Greens have dropped two points to sit at 11 per cent.The poll, conducted over August 22-24, also shows 77 per cent of Australian are in favour of proposed new laws for travellers returning from countries such as Iraq and Syria having to prove they are not involved with terrorist groups.A total of 18 per cent were against the laws and five per cent were uncommitted.Despite the vote of confidence for the coalition's new laws, Opposition Leader Bill Shorten has jumped above Tony Abbott in who would make a better prime minister.Mr Shorten gained three points to 40 per cent, with Mr Abbott dropping two points to 39 per cent, while 21 per cent were uncommitted.

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Sick Gold Coast toddler to return home

AT 14 months old, little Alliyah Broadby has seen more hospitals - and spent more time in them - than most adults.

IN fact, the only time the bubbly tot spent the night away from a hospital and at her family's Gold Coast home was on her birthday, when a nurse had to stay with her overnight.

But that's all about to change for Alliyah, who has suffered a range of breathing, lung and heart complications since birth.From next month, Alliyah will be able to have her treatments on the Gold Coast instead of Brisbane. This means she can spend more time at home.And her parents Mark and Kathryn Broadby couldn't be happier."When people look at her, they just see her as being a little girl apart from the trach in her neck," Mrs Broadby said.Alliyah has had a tracheostomy, a surgical hole made in her neck, so she can be attached to a respirator when she sleeps because her breathing stops.The Broadbys have had to take shifts staying with Alliyah at the Royal Children's Hospital in Brisbane, while the other looks after the couple's other four children on the Gold Coast."We're her lifeline," Mrs Broadby told reporters."No nurse can put the time and effort that we have into her."Mrs Broadby said her daughter's cheeky personality, which is coupled with a disarming smile, often belies the full extent of her medical troubles."Sometimes people go `it doesn't look like there's much wrong with her'. But she is a complex-needs child and she does require constant supervision."Mrs Broadby wrote to Premier Campbell Newman earlier this year about her daughter's condition, which prompted a transfer plan to the Gold Coast University Hospital.Health Minister Lawrence Springborg said the transfer would come about in stages but would likely be underway in September."The important thing about returning Alliyah to home is that she will be able to be monitored at the Gold Coast University Hospital," he said.

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Diners evacuated in Vic restaurant blaze

A FIRE at a popular inner Melbourne restaurant that forced the evacuation of diners has caused more than $400,000 worth of damage.

ABOUT 50 people were enjoying dinner at Donovan's Restaurant, St Kilda when the fire broke out in its roof above the kitchen on Sunday evening.

Metropolitan Fire Brigade (MFB) firefighters said no one was injured and they were able bring it under control in 50 minutes. They stopped it from spreading.The damage bill is more than $400,000 and its cause is being investigated, A MFB statement said.

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Iceland lowers volcano alert to orange

Iceland raised its alert over the nation's largest volcano to red after detecting a small eruption. Source: AAP

ICELAND has lowered its alert over the nation's largest volcanic system to orange after keeping it for one day at the maximum level amid fears of an imminent eruption.

A MAJOR explosion at the Bardarbunga volcano, located under a glacier, could signal a replay of the global travel chaos triggered when another Icelandic peak blew four years ago, creating a massive ash cloud across Europe.

The Icelandic Met Office said that there had not been a small sub-glacial eruption on Saturday, as previously announced."Presently there are no signs of ongoing volcanic activity," IMO said on its website on Saturday night.The red alert level on Saturday led to the closure of airspace in the affected area, although all airports in the country remained opened.Seismic activity remains high in the area, with more than 700 tremors recorded during the night.Early on Sunday, the strongest earthquakes of the current seismic cycle shook Bardarbunga.They were listed on the Met Office's website with intensities of 5.3 and 5.1 on the Richter scale, the highest registered in the area since 1996.The eruption of Eyjafjoell, a smaller volcano, in April 2010 caused travel mayhem, stranding more than eight million people in the widest airspace shutdown since World War II.Iceland's most active sub-glacial volcano Grimsvotn erupted in 2011, forcing the country to temporarily shut its airspace and sparking fears of a repeat of the Eyjafjoell flight chaos.Iceland is home to more than 100 volcanic mountains, some of which are among the most active in the world.

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Woman charged over NSW road rage stabbing

A 21-YEAR-OLD woman has been charged after a man was stabbed in the leg with scissors during a road rage attack in Sydney's southwest.

POLICE say the 26-year-old man was attacked in Lakemba about 2.30pm on Sunday shortly after arguing with the woman over a car park spot.

He was driving along Croydon Street after the argument when his car was allegedly bumped from behind by a Honda Civic driven by the woman.Witnesses have told police the Civic then did a U-turn, blocking the man's car, and the driver got out of her vehicle.It's alleged she slapped the man through the open window of his car, and stabbed him in the leg with a pair of scissors before driving off.He was treated at the scene by paramedics, but did not need to go to hospital.Police arrested the woman at a house in Lakemba and charged her with predatory driving and assault occasioning actual bodily harm.She was granted conditional bail to appear in Burwood Local Court on September 16.

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Man shot in Sydney's west

A MAN has been shot in the leg in Sydney's west.

EMERGENCY services were called to Yeend Street, Merrylands at 7.30pm (AEST) on Sunday and found the man with a gunshot wound to his thigh.

The 34-year-old was taken to Westmead Hospital but his condition is not life threatening.Police officers are searching the area.

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Westpac tops business satisfaction survey

THE Commonwealth Bank's reign as the most popular big four lender among business customers is over, losing the title to Westpac.

WESTPAC scored the highest customer satisfaction rating among the big four in July, according to the DBM Consultants Business Financial Services Monitor, with an average rating of 7.6 out of ten.

CBA , which had been in number one position on the monitor since mid-2011, scored an average of 7.4 out of ten in July.ANZ scored an average of 7.2 and National Australia Bank, which is the largest lender to businesses, was the least popular with an average score of 7.0.DBM Consultants director Maria Claridad said Westpac was most popular among small and microbusinesses."It's the only bank that does not have a lower satisfaction rating among small businesses than it did at the beginning of the year," she said.

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