Canada, US to help northern Aust: Robb

CANADIAN and US investors could be the key to opening up development in northern Australia, Trade Minister Andrew Robb says.

A discussion paper on northern Australia's future will be released by Deputy Prime Minister Warren Truss at an event in Townsville on Tuesday.

The green paper will be the first stage in the development of a long-term policy for the region, fulfilling a coalition election promise.

Mr Robb, who is in Canada with a 20-member business delegation, told AAP that pension funds in North America - which were already involved in a billions of dollars of Australian infrastructure projects - were looking for new opportunities.

"These pension funds could end up in agribusiness investments through the supply chain," he said.

"It makes a lot of sense because they are long-term investments."

He said opening up northern parts of WA, the NT and Queensland would also require rail, airports and ports linked to the major new agricultural projects.

The growth in Asia's middle class - from about 600 million to three billion people over the next three decades - would drive demand for specialist crops, horticulture and sugar.

"These sorts of ventures across the north, in what is currently just cattle country, are in prospect for the first time ever because of the size and sophistication of the market that is emerging," Mr Robb said.

"We would never be able to supply all of these people, so we ought to aim for the high end."

The minister said Australia's capital markets were not deep enough to fund this development and take the long-risks associated with it.

"That is why I am on my bike all over the world."

The government will also on Tuesday release a feasibility study into a baseload power station in the Pentland area west of Townsville.

The study, involving Guildford Coal Ltd and Mackay Sugar Ltd, was initiated in April 2013 by the Labor government.

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'Super computer' passes Turing Test in UK

A "SUPER computer" has duped humans into thinking it was a 13-year-old boy to become the first machine to pass the "iconic" Turing Test, experts say.

Five machines were tested at the Royal Society in central London to see if they could fool people into thinking they were humans during text-based conversations.

The test was devised in 1950 by computer science pioneer and World War II code breaker Alan Turing, who said that if a machine was indistinguishable from a human, then it was "thinking".

No computer had ever previously passed the Turing Test, which requires 30 per cent of human interrogators to be duped during a series of five-minute keyboard conversations, organisers from the University of Reading said.

But "Eugene Goostman", a computer program developed to simulate a 13-year-old boy, managed to convince 33 per cent of the judges that it was human, the university said.

Professor Kevin Warwick, from the University of Reading, said: "In the field of artificial intelligence there is no more iconic and controversial milestone than the Turing Test.

"It is fitting that such an important landmark has been reached at the Royal Society in London, the home of British science and the scene of many great advances in human understanding over the centuries. This milestone will go down in history as one of the most exciting."

The successful machine was created by Russian-born Vladimir Veselov, who lives in the United States, and Ukrainian Eugene Demchenko who lives in Russia.

Veselov said: "It's a remarkable achievement for us and we hope it boosts interest in artificial intelligence and chatbots."

Prof Warwick said there had been previous claims that the test was passed in similar competitions around the world.

"A true Turing Test does not set the questions or topics prior to the conversations," he said.

"We are therefore proud to declare that Alan Turing's test was passed for the first time."

Prof Warwick said having a computer with such artificial intelligence had "implications for society" and would serve as a "wake-up call to cybercrime".

The event on Saturday was poignant as it took place on the 60th anniversary of the death of Turing, who laid the foundations of modern computing.

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Driver charged in crash that hurt Morgan

ACTOR and comedian Tracy Morgan has been critically injured after a tractor-trailer rammed into his chauffeured limousine bus, setting off a chain-reaction crash that left one member of his entourage dead and two others seriously hurt.

A truck driver from Georgia was charged with death by auto in connection to the crash, prosecutors said.

Middlesex County prosecutors said 35-year-old Kevin Roper also faces four counts of assault by auto. His bail was set at $US50,000 ($A54,100), and he was expected to turn himself in later on Saturday.

Morgan, the former Saturday Night Live and 30 Rock cast member, was returning from a stand-up comedy show in Delaware when his Mercedes limo bus carrying seven people overturned on the New Jersey Turnpike near Cranbury Township at about 1am on Saturday, state police Sergeant 1st Class Greg Williams said.

James McNair, 62, of Peekskill, New York, a passenger in the limo bus, died at the scene, Williams said. Morgan, 45, and Jeffrey Millea, 36, of Shelton, Connecticut, were flown from the accident scene to Robert Wood Johnson Hospital, where they were in critical condition, hospital spokesman Peter Haigney said.

A fourth passenger, comedian Ardie Fuqua Junior, was also in critical condition, while a fifth passenger, comic Harris Stanton, was treated and released, Haigney said.

Two others in the limo were unhurt, including the driver.

Morgan remains in the intensive care unit at the hospital.

"His family is now with him and he is receiving excellent care," spokesman Lewis Kay said in a statement.

"We don't anticipate much of a change in his condition today but will provide a further update once more information becomes available."

Williams said the tractor-trailer driver apparently failed to notice slow traffic ahead and swerved at the last minute in a vain attempt to avoid a crash.

But it smashed into the back of the limo, prompting a chain-reaction crash with a second tractor-trailer, an SUV and two cars.

Morgan performed comedy standup on Friday night at Dover Downs Hotel & Casino. His appearance at the Fillmore Charlotte in North Carolina on Saturday night was cancelled.

Morgan, a New York City native, joined SNL in 1996 and was on the sketch-comedy program for seven years before leaving to star in The Tracy Morgan Show in 2003. That show lasted just one season.

In 2006, Morgan found a long-running role on NBC's hit show 30 Rock and received an Emmy nomination for best supporting actor for 30 Rock in 2009.

Morgan grew up fatherless, one of five siblings in Brooklyn, where he helped raise and support the family.

He once called his gift for being funny "a defence mechanism" for his miserable circumstances. As a teen, he started doing comedy on the streets to supplement the family's welfare income.

In recent years, he has struggled with alcoholism and drunken driving arrests. He had a successful kidney transplant in late 2010.

Morgan has three grown sons by a previous marriage and a daughter, Maven Sonae, born last July to his fiancee, Megan Wollover.

His films include Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, The Longest Yard, First Sunday, Rio and Why Stop Now.

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Pope begins Middle East prayer summit

VATICAN officials insist no political agenda is lurking behind Pope Francis' invitation to the Israeli and Palestinian presidents to pray for peace together in the Vatican gardens, and no concrete initiatives are expected.

But Sunday's unusual summit - with Jewish, Christian and Muslim prayers intoned in the shadow of St Peter's Basilica - could take on great significance on the ground.

And it will certainly enhance Francis' reputation as a leader unhindered by diplomatic and theological protocol who is willing to take risks for the sake of peace.

The prayer was organised in the two weeks since Francis first made the surprise invitation from the biblical city of Bethlehem. On Sunday, he asked the crowd attending his weekly noon blessing to join in with their own prayers as well.

As Palestinian flags fluttered in the breeze, Francis pressed the importance of "surprise" in the Catholic Church, saying a church that doesn't have the ability to surprise with its message of love is "weak, sick and dying and needs CPR".

Francis showed himself a master of improvisation and surprise during his trip to the Middle East, stopping to pray at the Israeli security barrier surrounding Bethlehem and then, at Israel's request, changing his busy itinerary to pray at a memorial to Jews killed in suicide bombings and other attacks.

But it was his invitation to Israeli President Shimon Peres and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas - two men who signed the Oslo peace accords in 1993 - to come to "my home" to pray for peace that captured imaginations and led to Sunday's common call for peace on a patch of lawn inside the Vatican walls.

"Peace is a gift of God, but requires our efforts. Let us be people of peace in prayer and deed," Francis tweeted on the eve of the summit.

"Prayer is all-powerful. Let us use it to bring peace to the Middle East and peace to the world."

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Tertiary education more accessible: Ziggy

FORMER Telstra boss Ziggy Switkowski says tertiary education is now more accessible than ever before as he is honoured for his work in the sector.

Dr Switkowski, who is chancellor of RMIT University in Melbourne and chairman of NBN Co, has been recognised in the Queen's Birthday Honours as an officer in the Order of Australia for his service in tertiary and education administration, scientific organisations and the telecommunications sector, business and the arts.

He said universities and employers were now mindful they were addressing a generation that was well informed, ambitious and flexible with relatively short-term horizons.

"Tertiary education is more accessible now than ever before," Dr Switkowski said.

"That's a direction that all governments have encouraged.

"It's good for the nation. We build up our pool of trained and intellectually curious people and I think we are a better country and society for it."

Participation in the tertiary sector had grown, with more than one-third of year 12 students undertaking some form of higher education, he said.

Dr Switkowski said he had been fortunate to embark on a business career, which had included chairing the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation.

"That enabled me to engage in the debate around clean energy, climate change and be an advocate for nuclear power in Australia, which was a very worthwhile and stimulating period," he said.

Helping Opera Australia become resilient and engaging with students and academics as chancellor of RMIT in Melbourne had also been rewarding.

Meanwhile, Sydney businessman and environmental advocate Geoffrey Cousins and former Westpac chief executive and Santos director Frank Conroy have been appointed members of the Order of Australia.

Mr Cousins has been recognised for services to the community through the establishment of the Starlight Children's Foundation and to the visual and performing arts.

"The Starlight foundation has been a massive part of my life," he said.

"In the early days we had no money, no staff, no support."

Mr Cousins said he was pleased to see the organisation grow to have a national presence and grant more than 8000 wishes to extremely sick children.

"It's tremendously satisfying to see that happen," he said.

Mr Conroy has been recognised for his service to the finance and banking sector, to corporate administration as well as the arts, health and secondary education.

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Hey there, it's The Seekers, AO

AS one of the few bands from the 1960s still with their original line-up, The Seekers have proved their staying power. Now they're being recognised in the Queen's Birthday Honours.

Judith Durham, Athol Guy, Keith Potger and Bruce Woodley have been appointed officers in the Order Of Australia (AO) for their services to the performing arts.

Celebrating 50 years since they began their distinguished career, The Seekers have been on the road performing sold-out shows across Australia, the United Kingdom and Ireland.

Speaking from London after one of the supergroup's shows at the Royal Albert Hall, double bass player Athol Guy said there was a nice "royal connection" about their award and tour location.

"It was a perfect bit of timing because we've just finished our 50th-anniversary tour over here in London with two sell-out shows at the Royal Albert Hall, so there's a nice royal connection coming up to the Queen's birthday," he told AAP.

With each member being recognised for their career, whose hits have included Georgy Girl, I'll Never Find Another You and A World of Our Own, Guy said the honour was particularly special.

"It's a lovely moment for the four of us, to each individually be named in that way," he said. "Collectively, we've had so many honours as a group, it's hard to imagine that there'd be any more to come. And this one came right out of the blue for all of us."

The group suffered a setback in 2013 when singer Judith Durham was admitted to hospital with a cerebral haemorrhage after the first Melbourne show of their 50th-anniversary concert.

However, after three months of rehabilitation, doctors gave Durham the OK to perform.

"It's a very nasty thing to happen to anyone, but the lovely thing about it is I think it was her belief that she could always get back with us and finish that Australian tour," Guy said.

"It really kept her moving along in positive mode."

Durham said she hoped the award would encourage others.

"We were just four unknown, aspiring Australian musicians singing happy, uplifting, melodic and inspiring songs, and being true to ourselves," she said.

"We hope that this award might serve as encouragement to other Aussies to do the same.

"We are thrilled and delighted to accept such an honour."

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PM wants Monash to be household name

THE efforts of Australian General John Monash on the Western Front in World War I should be as widely recognised as the story of Simpson and his donkey at Gallipoli, Prime Minister Tony Abbott says.

Mr Abbott revealed on Saturday a new memorial centre to be built in France would be named in honour of the Australian military leader, who is regarded as one of the great tacticians of World War I.

After joining world leaders at D-Day commemorations in Normandy on Friday, Mr Abbott turned his attention to the First World War as he visited the Australian National Memorial at Villers-Bretonneux for the first time.

While not as famous as the Gallipoli campaign, the efforts of Australian diggers to stop German forces on the Western Front were critical to the outcome of the war.

Of the 295,000 Australians who fought there between 1916 and 1918, 46,000 never made it home and the prime minister is leading a push he believes will help improve a sense of national identity.

"No place on earth has been more densely sown with Australian sacrifice than these fields in France," Mr Abbott said.

"Australians should be as familiar with the story of the Western Front as we are with Gallipoli.

"Australians should be at least as familiar with the achievements of Monash as we are with the heroism of John Simpson Kirkpatrick (in Gallipoli)."

Sir John Monash was involved in the failed Gallipoli campaign but used his experiences to lead several significant battlefield victories, including the decisive Battle of Amiens.

Mr Abbott said he brought organisation and technology to the battlefield to "break the stalemate of trench warfare".

Attendances at the annual Anzac Day dawn service at Villers-Bretonneux have grown steadily in recent years, with the crowd this year surpassing that at Gallipoli.

Some predict it will become the nation's clear focal point of Anzac Day commemorations beyond next year's centenary in Gallipoli.

"Australians should congregate here, every April 25th, no less than at Anzac Cove," Mr Abbott said.

"And on Anzac Day four years hence, the centenary of the Battle of Villers-Bretonneux, I'm sure they will."

Mr Abbott said it was expected the new "interpretive centre", to be built behind the Australian memorial, would open in 2018 to coincide with 100th anniversary commemorations.

The "Sir John Monash" centre will help to better explain Australia's role in the final victories of World War I and the government will put up $6.9 million for the initial planning.

Mr Abbott later followed in the footsteps of former prime ministers by visiting the Victoria School, built in Villers-Bretonneux in 1927 with money donated by school children from the Australian state.

He chatted with schoolchildren and locals in the school's courtyard, where a prominent green and gold sign hangs permanently reading: "Never Forget Australia."

Mr Abbott then visited the memorial site at nearby Pozieres, the sight of a bloody 1916 battle where 23,000 Australians were killed in the space of just six weeks.

The prime minister was expected to meet with French President Francois Hollande on Saturday night before departing Paris on Sunday for Canada and the US.

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No visa info over Tamil's death: group

IMMIGRATION Minister Scott Morrison says Australian officials have contacted the family of a Tamil asylum seeker explaining visa processes so they can travel to Australia to attend his funeral.

But a spokesman for the Tamil Refugee Council said on Saturday that no one from the Australian Immigration department has been in touch with the family in India.

Asylum seeker Leorsin Seemanpillai, 29, died last Sunday after dousing himself in petrol and setting himself alight in Geelong.

Refugee advocates say the Tamil feared being returned to Sri Lanka because he thought he faced persecution from authorities.

The government has offered to return his body to Sri Lanka or India.

But immediate family who live in a refugee camp in Tamil Nadu in southern India say they fear for their safety if the funeral is held in either country. They are seeking visas to attend the funeral in Australia.

Mr Morrison acknowledged that they face very real difficulties.

He said the department had explained to them the process of application for a short-term visitor visa to travel to Australia, including the need for travel documents.

That process was very clear and it would be up to the immigration department to assess their application.

"It's not available to the minister to instruct the department in issuing a visitor visa in circumstances like these and they will have to apply the law as it stands," he told ABC radio.

Tamil Refugee Council spokesman Aran Mylvaganam said he had spoken to Mr Seemanpillai's father on Saturday, specifically asking if anyone from the Australian Immigration department had contacted him to explain how to obtain a visa.

The only Australian officials they had heard from were the Victorian refugee assistance group AMES, which offered to pay funeral costs, and the coroner's office in Melbourne.

"Either Morrison is getting the wrong advice from his department or he is simply trying to misinform the Australian people," he said in a statement.

"Whatever is the case, it is an absolute disgrace that he won't intervene to help this family in a moment of dire need."

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One dead, one hurt in SA speed boat crash

ONE person is dead and another has been rushed to hospital after a speedboat crashed on the Murray River in South Australia.

SA Police say Saturday afternoon's accident occurred during a competitive event.

"There were two victims, one is sadly deceased," an SA police spokesman said.

"The other has got some serious burns and has been flown to the Royal Adelaide Hospital."

The Adelaide Advertiser reported the victims were both male, but SA Police were unable to provide further details.

"It was a sad tragic way of ending the day's competition there," the police spokesman said.

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Alleged Sydney card skimmer charged

A man has been caught allegedly skimming money out of ATMs in Sydney's west using stolen card data. Source: AAP

A MAN has been caught allegedly skimming money out of ATMs in Sydney's west using stolen card data.

Police were contacted after the 27-year-old was seen acting suspiciously in Parramatta on Friday morning, walking from one ATM to another, allegedly making transactions with several cards.

Officers later detained and searched the man, finding 15 store cards, which are believed to have been encoded with stolen card data. He also had more than $4000 in cash on him.

The Fairfield man was charged with dishonestly obtaining financial advantage by deception and two other related charges.

He was granted conditional bail and is due to appear at Parramatta Local Court on July 16.

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