World news and comment from the Guardian | guardian.co.uk

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World news and comment from the Guardian | guardian.co.uk

Labor pushes for no-confidence vote against 'biased' Bronwyn Bishop

Posted: 27 Mar 2014 01:19 AM PDT

Attempt at first such motion against an Australian Speaker since 1949 defeated 83 to 51 in row sparked by Dreyfus ejection

Labor has attempted the first vote of no confidence in a parliamentary Speaker since 1949, declaring Bronwyn Bishop biased, incompetent and failing in her interpretation of the standing orders.

Tony Abbott is sacrificing his significant majority by sweating the small stuff

Posted: 27 Mar 2014 01:03 AM PDT

Voters are being alienated with too many minor matters that are not going to create a positive legacy for the prime minister

Former prime ministers give new prime ministers remarkably consistent advice about leading the country. Keep your eye on the prize, your focus on the big things you want to leave as a legacy. So what can Tony Abbott be thinking?

When a government has a large majority it is best advised to use that majority to achieve a major policy advance, wrote John Howard when asked about the lessons of his success in introducing the GST. Big majorities never last, so political capital should be spent on a good cause.

My School comparison data should be withheld, Senate committee suggests

Posted: 27 Mar 2014 12:57 AM PDT

Report criticises 'disingenuous' use of Naplan test results to rank schools, putting students under too much pressure

A Senate committee has suggested the removal of comparative information from the My School website to limit the disingenuous use of national test results to rank schools.

The education and employment references committee investigated concerns that the National Assessment Program in Literacy and Numeracy (Naplan) was putting students under too much pressure and that media outlets were publishing unofficial league tables.

Crocodile safari ban 'shortsighted', Northern Territory ministers say

Posted: 27 Mar 2014 12:30 AM PDT

'Canberra needs to take its foot off the territory's throat,' one says after Greg Hunt rejects application to legalise hunting

The Northern Territory government has hit out at a federal government decision not to allow crocodile hunting safaris.

Two NT ministers have accused the federal environment minister, Greg Hunt, who turned down an application to legalise crocodile hunting in the territory, of being shortsighted and ill-informed.

Death penalty statistics 2013: country by country

Posted: 27 Mar 2014 12:30 AM PDT

At least 778 executions were carried out across the world in 2013, according to figures out today from Amnesty International. See how the data breaks down by country

At least 778 executions were carried out in 2013 - up from at least 682 in 2012 - according to the latest global report from Amnesty International.

The report documents executions in 22 countries in 2013, a rise on the previous year when executions were recorded in 21 countries worldwide. The countries with the highest number of executions were China, Iran, Iraq, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, USA and Somalia.

At least 778 people were executed in 22 countries in 2013. In 2012, Amnesty International reported at least 682 executions in 21 countries worldwide. At least 1,925 death sentences were recorded in 57 countries in 2013, an increase from the 2012 figure of 1,722 in 58 countries. 23,392 people are thought to have been on death row at the end of 2013.

Safe asylum boat turnbacks may not be possible, Senate committee finds

Posted: 27 Mar 2014 12:09 AM PDT

Senators critical of 'blanket public interest immunity claims' used to avoid giving details about Operation Sovereign Borders

It may be impossible for the government to safely pursue its policy of turning back boats carrying asylum seekers without crossing into Indonesias territorial waters, a Senate inquiry into six Australian naval incursions has found.

On Thursday the foreign affairs, defence and trade committee released its report into the incursions, which occurred between December 2013 and January 2014 and were said to have been an inadvertent result of miscalculations about Indonesias boundaries.

Bronwyn Bishop brings it on, and survives unbattered, unbowed

Posted: 27 Mar 2014 12:09 AM PDT

Labor lists the speaker's sins of bias and incompetence, only to be labelled a bunch of 'sooks' in return

It was no surprise when the Labor motion finally came to debate no confidence in speaker Bronwyn Bishop, and she was ready for it.

It was almost as if Bishop deliberately brought it on. She named Mark Dreyfus, Labors shadow attorney. Naming doesnt come out of the speakers tool kit very often. It excludes a member from the parliament for 24 hours, rather than the usual hour.








Labor moves no further confidence in Speaker Bronwyn Bishop

Posted: 26 Mar 2014 11:53 PM PDT

MPs meet in Canberra for the final parliamentary sitting day before the May budget

Just when you think you've made some progress, a new flight of stairs presents in front of you. Only the power crazed would contemplate the long climb.

Terrific to see the riders from the @Starlight_star @TourdeKids2013 - The ride has raised over $500,000 for sick kids pic.twitter.com/DN9kb9Ek5Q

Men and bikers of Australia.

Meanwhile, Tony and the hewn calves. Speaking with his peeps. Men and women of bicycles.

Just a few thoughts on the "no further confidence" outing. There's always the theatre criticism trap in political commentary, particularly in contemporaneous commentary. You can focus on how things look and how they played and who won the zinger-off rather than on the underlying issues.

So let's start with the substance. Labor has a valid point about Bishop and the speakership. As I said during the debate, or just after it she'd be better served, and the public would be better served, by the Speaker playing it down the line by policing the House on its merits. She'd be making a more substantial contribution, she'd be prioritising the enduring interests of the voters, not the more transient requirements of partisanship and she'd cut through one of the biggest problems she's faced in politics, which is her reductionist typecasting.

@farrm51 @samanthamaiden @David_Speers @meadea @GrogsGamut I'm no Sook @lenoretaylor @murpharoo pic.twitter.com/dvZyRRxWFr

Keep it down out there.

Speaker Bronwyn Bishop, elected to the seat of Mackellar 20 years ago this week - 1993 portrait by Greg Bartlett pic.twitter.com/T2AYEDOHKD

Just for the record in the vote of no further confidence independents Cathy McGowan and Andrew Wilkie voted with the government in support of Bishop.

The Greens deputy leader Adam Bandt voted with Labor. (Some cat calling in the chamber over Labor/Green alliances.)

Another small ditty from the senate, where things have been slightly tamer, but amusing enough.

Labor senator Sam Dastyari asked a question to the government senate leader, Eric Abetz, about whether or not he'd been consulted on knights and dames.

I can confirm senator Dastyari that I was consulted.

The last lob at Shorten from the prime minister infuriates Anthony Albanese.

The point of order is one of the things we do in this place is not attack families.

That is one of the fundamental things lines that we never cross.

I obviously - offence has been taken and I unconditionally withdraw.

Bill Shorten.

Q: Even former prime minister John Winston Howard believes that the prime minister's plan to play Knights and Dames is anachronistic. Why won't the prime minister get his priorities right and focus on the people who have been losing their jobs since you got elected?

The only people who are obsessing about honours are members opposite.

I am John Howard's greatest champion but in case members opposite haven't noticed, this is not the fifth term of the Howard government.

If only he had the class of his mother-in-law, that is all I can say.

Treasurer Joe Hockey is ploughing on with a Dorothy Dixer. The roiling is so surround sound it's hard to hear him.

We are back into Question Time. Things still very fractious down there.

Bishop has told the member for Chifley to desist or leave.

If you don't know the meaning of desist, look it up. The Treasurer has the call.

Reflections on members?

If the member thought that meant he wasn't literate, I withdraw it.

Insults are sometimes traded in this house. They should never come from your chair. You should withdraw without reservation.

The member will not shout at the chair.

That is a reflection on the chair.

Want to blast me out? Bring a few mates.

Politics is a numbers game.

I move ..

Ayes 51 and No's 83. Bishop has the confidence of the majority of the chamber.

Labor of course has an entirely valid point. I don't think the opposition is the only stakeholder in national affairs to think Bishop needs to put down the spear that she'd serve herself and her talents better by using the role for more than partisanship.

Christopher Pyne has gone a long way to neutralising the attack today though with a withering parliamentary performance. Sooks. Having a tantrum about being in opposition.

Labor's Anthony Albanese has his turn. He's ropable. About three quarters of the way through his contribution, Bishop interjects at him from the chair.

He rounds on her.

You have just given a cracker of an example of your partisanship.

Here I am saying why (standing orders) should be suspended so that we have the proper debate and we have a vote in your Speakership and whether you have the confidence of the house and you interject from the chair in order to slap that down.

Pyne says Bishop has been extremely generous and tolerant of the opposition, given how incomptent they are.

Tissue for your issue Tony. Pyne says opposition is slow boring through hard boards.

It is not something you can deal with tactically and this is a tactic, this is a stunt, it is simply designed to distract the house and the public and the people from the shabby tactics of the Labor party.

We do have confidence in the Speaker. We have absolute confidence in the Speaker and as long as the Speaker wants to serve in that role we will support her from this side of the House.

Manager of government business Christopher Pyne is in his element. He observes the simple fact that when this debate is over, it will be a vote of confidence in the Speaker. Labor does not have the numbers for it to be otherwise.

Pyne suggests Labor has been nasty to Bishop because she is a woman. It's misogyny, reversed.

I am no sook. I have been manager of opposition business for five years. I was manager of opposition business for three years in a hung parliament. I hold the record for being ejected from this place by Speakers in the parliament.

I never complained. I never complained. I didn't stand up like a great big sook like the manager of opposition business did today and say like one of my four children that I have had my toy taken away from me.

Burke is unleashing a dossier about Bishop.

Yesterday we had a member of parliament thrown out for laughing. We have spent months watching you laugh at every joke from the ministers at the expense of members of the opposition. But somehow that is an appropriate way to conduct the role.

It is acknowledged on both sides of this house and throughout the country that you are a formidable parliamentarian. That is acknowledged. It is acknowledged that for the entire time in opposition and when you have sat on those benches, you have been one of the people who has been able to come to the dispatch box and launch scathing and effective attacks on us as the Labor party.

You are respected as a member of parliament for that. But we cannot support you continuing to behave that way when you want to sit in the Speaker's chair.

This resolution today is not one that people rush to move. This is a resolution - and every time, whether it is a suspension of standing orders or whether leave is granted, on every occasion that a resolution of this nature is moved, it is carried forever in practice. For the very simple reason that while Opposition members when they get to this point don't expect to win the vote, they do expect to have a situation where everyone in Australia knows bias when they see it.

You're effective as a warrior for the Liberal party, but that is not the job you chose to take on. In the Speaker's chair you have continued to act as though enjoying the victory for your own side is your job.

Manager of opposition business, Tony Burke:

I seek leave to move a resolution which has not been moved in this form in the house since 1949, that the house has no further confidence in Madam Speaker on the grounds (a) that in the discharge of her duties she has revealed serious partiality in favour of government members; (b) that she regards herself merely as an instrument of the Liberal party and not as the custodian of the rights and privileges of elected members of the parliament; (c) that she constantly fails to interpret correctly the standing orders of the house; and (d) of gross incompetency in the administration of parliamentary procedure.

Before I call the leader of the House I would say to the manager of opposition business that earlier today the opposition called a division on a second reading speech because they only had one member in the house.

Subsequent to that, he called a division on the question that the bill be agreed to, and then called the division off then when we had a division on the third reading and all the members were present they failed to provide a Speaker on the next piece of business.

Bye Bye Mark. He's out until the budget.

Labor responds with a motion of no-confidence in Speaker Bronwyn Bishop.

Madame Speaker Names Mark Dreyfus for saying 'Madame Speaker'. Will be banned from the house for 24 hours. Extraordinary. #qt

I'm indebted to my colleague Daniel Hurst, who is helping me toggle between two chambers. Live blogs some days take a village.

Now, to the back to the green room. I think she's going to blow in there.

Over in the senate, the attorney-general has meanwhile been asked about his experience in the Cabinet on the RDA package. Had he in fact, drunk "the right-wing kool aid" as one colleague was said to have remarked about him, anonymously in a newspaper.

Brandis refused to comment on Cabinet discussions. But he had a message for his pretend friends around the Cabinet table too: this is your package as well.

But Cabinet decisions, as you would be aware, are collective decisions. The decision to release this exposure draft is the collective decision of every Cabinet minister.

Budget priorities. Shadow treasurer Chris Bowen to treasurer Joe Hockey. Why have you stuffed the budget with your dodgy forecasts and assumptions?

Hockey:

I just want to deal head-on with this great fiction. The Labor party's record was $190bn of deficits in five years.

$190bn of deficits in five years.

Just a warning. I might be completely wrong, but I point out that this is the last Question Time before May. It's a long break. It would not shock me if someone sought to be memorable.

Short-sighted, twisted, budget priorities. That's Labor's theme for today's Question Time. Bill Shorten is opening on priorities.

Our priority is scrapping the carbon tax and boosting family income by $550 a year. Our priority is scrapping the mining tax and boosting investment and jobs right around Australia. Our priority is restoring the Australian Building and Construction Commission and adding $6bn a year to our economy and productivity improvements. Our priority is stopping the boats and it is working. On all of these matters, on all of these grave matters for the security and the prosperity of our country, we are being opposed by members opposite.

Malcolm Farr from news.com.au calling the week as he sees it.

Tony Abbott is having his worst week since he became prime minister because he is straying from the sacred core issues of his party. The prime ministers rash plan to change the Racial Discrimination Act and his revival of knighthoods were not treasured policies of the Liberal party waiting for implementation. They were personal indulgences Mr Abbott shared with a bunch of blokes he occasionally had a beer with.

Question time is almost upon us. Late yesterday on the blog, I posted some video of the Labor senate leader Penny Wong's very strong speech in a chamber debate about the RDA. I know a number of readers enjoyed having a look at that.

I also mentioned the Liberal senator Scott Ryan's speech in a post yesterday afternoon. Ryan is on the opposite side of the fence on this issue. Thanks to the IPA, here's some video of Ryan's pro-free speech contribution in that debate.

I'm conscious I've skipped over Medibank today. In terms of the politics, the main focus of the debate has been about dividends. It's unsurprising that this would be the focal point as both sides this week have been trying to stake out some pre-budget ground.

Just assuming we'll get some playback during Question Time on this issue, best we set it up.

The proposition that somehow the commonwealth would be able to draw half a billion dollars in dividends on a yearly basis is just a ridiculous proposition. Labor raided Medibanks capital reserves that is not sustainable over time.

They've skipped a division to move to the main vote on abolishing the CEFC.

Now it's done. There goes the CEFC. Again.

Since 1975, real wages for the bottom tenth have risen 15%, while wages for the top tenth have risen 59%. Put another way, if cleaners and checkout operators had enjoyed the same rate of wage growth as financial dealers and anaesthetists, those low-wage workers would be earning an extra $14,000 a year.

Over the past few decades, there has been a rise in the share of people living on less than half the median household income a rise in relative poverty. The income share of the top 1 percent has doubled. The income share of the top 0.1% has tripled.

The attorney-general may not be having the happiest day. In the spirit of consolation, I note it could be worse. The ABC is reporting a walkout in the Northern Territory parliament. Three CLP backbenchers are, apparently, MIA.

According the ABC, the opposition leader Delia Lawrie asked the chief minister if he had lost control of the Parliament.

Three members of your own party, your own government have literally just walked out this chamber. It is unprecedented in territory political history, you have lost the numbers to govern. What have you got to say to territorians about this debacle?

The CEFC debate is still grinding away to the inevitable conclusion. With an ear on that, let's win the day in a very small way I have enough time to post a lunchtime summary.

I know this may not excite you, but it does excite me.

In the senate, the Greens and Labor have knocked out temporary protection visas. Again.

It being noon, the government is now moving to push this abolition bill through.

(By the by, the CEFC bill sets up a theoretical double dissolution trigger for the Abbott government I'm pretty sure this is the first one.)

The $10bn so-called green bank was set up as part of Labors carbon price package to support renewable energy projects through loans, guarantees and equity investments. It recently made its first major investment since the election of the Abbott government, providing $20m towards a biogas project that will cut energy costs for farmers and manufacturers.

The CEFC is one of the few parts of the carbon pricing package which could survive the new Senate, which sits after 30 June, with both the independent senator Nick Xenophon and the DLP senator John Madigan supporting it. The CEFC argues that far from being a drain on finances it will next year return money to the budget.

The shadow climate change minister Mark Butler is back now at the dispatch box on the bill to abolish the CEFC the Clean Energy Finance Corporation.

The suspension to allow consideration of this bill (I posted on this issue earlier this morning in between posting pictures of grown men manhandling alpacas) succeeded of course. The government has the numbers in the lower house, so they can manage business in the chamber in the way they want to.

I'm grateful to my colleague Gabrielle Chan, who has chased down Premier O'Farrell's full remarks this morning in a speech opening 'Celestial City: Sydneys Chinese Story at the Museum of Sydney.

In commendably seeking to protect freedom of speech we must not lower our defences against the evil of racial and religious intolerance. Bigotry should never be sanctioned, whether intentionally or not. Vilification on the grounds of race or religion is always wrong. There is no place for inciting hatreds within our Australian society. We are, after all, the envy of so much of the world.

I lead Australia's most culturally diverse state. We're in a city which for more than 200 years has welcomed people from around the world. Our diversity, their cultures and contributions, are the foundations of NSW past and future success. And we must avoid actions that would undermine these foundations.

When it comes to the RDA, the government must be getting the message loud and clear by now.

This is the political centre calling. Wrong way. Go Back. This issue is fracturing all over the place.

The Sydney Morning Herald is telling me that the NSW premier, Barry O'Farrell, has just tipped a bucket on the attorney-general over the universal declaration on bigotry.

O'Farrell, just a little while ago.

In commendably seeking to protect freedom of speech, we must not lower our defences against the evil of racial and religious intolerance.

Bigotry should never be sanctioned, whether intentionally or unintentionally.

Said the Farmer to the alpaca: now, these people are politicians. They are very nice. They will not do anything ridiculous, like grabbing you unexpectedly.

Is "cart" or perhaps "caht" Adelaide for cat?

Pyne is completely on a roll here. He's thundering about Labor being all tactics, no substance. (Dial H for chutzpah.) He then lobs that Bill Shorten, with his constant one liners, is the Milton Berle of Australian politics. (Berle was known in the day as "Mr television" a man of many zingers.)

Back to the House. I know this will shock you, but the manager of government business Christopher Pyne does not much care for the reverse suspension. Pyne is telling the chamber the shadow education minister Kate Ellis, who "can't be bothered" showing up for this debate, has let ..

the cart out of the bag.

No animals were harmed in the making of this movie.

Back to the shouting. Labor leader Bill Shorten is now trying the reverse suspension. Shorten is attempting to suspend the standing orders in order to allow consideration of a private members bill he foreshadowed in the Labor caucus this week. This private members bill would make federal school funding contingent on state premiers not reducing their funding for schools.

(Brandis) will fight for the right of bigots to have speech but the right of children to have speech lessons.

Oh. My. God.

Down in the chamber, various things are underway.

Tony Smith, the Victorian Liberal who chairs the joint committee on electoral matters, has told the House a forthcoming report from his committee will make substantive recommendations on senate voting. He pointed to the current senate by-election in Western Australia, observing that ten of the 77 candidates contesting senate spots live in other states. He suggests you should live in the state if you are intent on seeking election for the senate. Smith says "status quo" is not really an option. Senate opportunists, consider yourselves warned.

The president of the Human Rights Commission, Gillian Triggs was on the ABC's Lateline program last night, being interviewed about the RDA changes. Triggs was asked by host Tony Jones about how her organisation managed the differing positions between various commissioners about the proposed overhaul. She was asked specifically about the views of Tim Wilson, the former Institute of Public Affairs man, who is the new freedom commissioner.

Q: Is he on the same page with you or is he on the same page with the attorney-general?

GILLIAN TRIGGS: Well, despite all the concerns that were initially expressed about the appointment of Tim Wilson, he joined the six other commissioners and me as president yesterday and we went through the exposure draft and we agreed a quite extensive media release and we did it unanimously and we did it in the way we always do our business at the Human Rights Commission. And Tim's on board - Tim Wilson - and (Race Commissioner) Tim Soutphommasane, who takes a rather different view, is also on board in terms of that general press release. Now I think what may very well happen in the coming weeks as we prepare a more detailed legal response to the exposure draft is it's entirely possible that one or other of the commissioners will take a separate opinion. But we're a human rights body. We welcome different points of view. If that happens, well and good. We'll cope with it.

Communications minister Malcolm Turnbull on 'nothing like a dame' at a soiree for TV executives in Canberra last night.

This should not be seen as a monarchical move after all, there are many distinguished republics that have knights in their honours system Guatemala, for example.

Peru.

Paula Matthewson, writing in The Hoopla this morning, has produced a typically interesting column on the Labor leader Bill Shorten's address yesterday to the National Press Club.

Here's a taste which gives you the thesis:

Yesterday at the National Press Club, Opposition Leader Bill Shorten put the collywobbles up the conservatives who make up the bulk of Coalition voters by talking about change. Not his change, of course, but that which Shorten claims the Abbott government is going to inflict on the Australian populace. For if theres one thing conservatives dont like, its change. They take comfort from the status quo, and when faced with change they get anxious. If this anxiety reaches a high enough level, conservatives can feel resentful and eventually turn on whomever they think is responsible for causing the upheaval.

Twitter loves this picture this morning. It's very cool, so that's completely understandable.

This apparently is how the Dutch PM arrived to meet Obama today pic.twitter.com/Vn5JXhobki

Existential Twitter crisis: apparently 2yr-old recycled pic of Dutch PM biking gets >1000 RTs. Tweets about IPCC/carbon pricing get no love.

Just on the cabinet story on the RDA I've rung Brandis' office to see if they are commenting. They are not commenting.

Late yesterday, the senate's environment and communications committee produced a report on the Abbott government's direct action policy. This report was always going to be negative, and it was negative.

But in being negative, it merely reflects the views of a number of intelligent policy wonks concerned that direct action just won't work.

The inquiry has made it crystal clear that direct action is not a viable replacement for carbon pricing and is vastly inferior to the existing law.

The inquiry heard from a range of experts including two of Australias leading economists, a number of leading climate scientists and industry representatives, most of whom provided extensive evidence of direct actions inadequacies. How many times must the prime minister be told that hes going the wrong way on climate change?

There's a couple of other issues I need to bookmark but swimming with the news cycle for now, the Liberal senator Zed Seselja is on Sky News on a panel. Seselja has cautiously broken with the attorney-general on the current draft of the RDA changes. He thinks the current law is too broad and needs to be wound back to enhance free speech but he thinks there are too many exemptions in the current draft. He's sticking to that position this morning. Seselja says his view the overhaul of the package is going in the right direction we shouldn't see people dragged before the courts for offending someone but the exemptions weaken the package.

I'd like to see some modifications there.

Good morning and welcome to Canberra on the final parliamentary sitting day before the May budget. The morning is overcast calm, cool and quiet, almost Zen-like. There is absolutely no way this will last.

Let's work through the main stories of the morning.

I don't comment about what happens in Cabinet.

Cardinal Pell formally apologises to victim of paedophile priest

Posted: 26 Mar 2014 11:53 PM PDT

Archbishop says he takes ultimate responsibility for John Ellis's suffering and torment

Cardinal George Pell read out a formal apology to the victim of a paedophile priest at the royal commission into child sexual abuse on Thursday.

Pell marked the end of his appearance before the commission with a public apology for the suffering endured by former altar boy John Ellis as a result of his treatment by the church.

Labor attempts no-confidence motion in Speaker Bronwyn Bishop video

Posted: 26 Mar 2014 11:47 PM PDT

The Labor party continued its criticism of the parliamentary Speaker Bronwyn Bishop on Thursday after Mark Dreyfus was suspended from the house for 24 hours. Tony Burke accused Bishop of partisanship, saying she 'regarded herself merely as an instrument of the Liberal party' as he called for a motion of no confidence in the Speaker

Indonesia granted right to challenge Australia's plain-packaging laws

Posted: 26 Mar 2014 11:47 PM PDT

World Trade Organisation has now allowed five countries to appeal against cigarette labelling legislation

The World Trade Organisation has granted Indonesia the right to challenge Australias plain packaging laws in front of a panel of trade and legal experts, trade sources say.

Indonesia and a number of other countries before it are seeking to challenge the legislation which has required all cigarettes to be sold in Australia have uniform green packets with white labelling since December 2012.

Art Gallery of NSW asked to return stolen 1000-year-old Indian sculpture

Posted: 26 Mar 2014 11:20 PM PDT

Indian government goes through Attorney General's Department to reclaim Ardhanariswara idol

The Art Gallery of NSW has been asked to return a 1000-year-old sculpture that was stolen from an Indian temple.

The Attorney General's Department has received a formal request from the Indian government to return the Ardhanariswara idol, which was sold to the gallery after being stolen.

MH370: search effort swings towards finding black boxes

Posted: 26 Mar 2014 11:10 PM PDT

US navy equipment arrives to scan for flight recorders on ocean floor after satellite photos reveal 122 pieces of possible debris

Underwater scanners for finding the black box flight recorders from the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 have arrived at the search headquarters as crews pin their hopes on new satellite images showing 122 pieces of possible debris in the area of the Indian Ocean where the plane is presumed to have gone down.

An Australian navy ship will sweep the seabed by towing an underwater listening device deep below the surface in the hope of picking up an ultrasonic signal from one or both of the recorders; while a small submersible drone will be used to scan the sea floor for signs of wreckage.

Aussie dollar hits US92.44c, its highest rate in four months

Posted: 26 Mar 2014 10:27 PM PDT

RBA governor Glenn Stevens brings on jump by saying non-mining sectors are showing promise

The Australian dollar has hit a four-month high after Reserve Bank governor Glenn Stevens said there were promising signs from non-mining sectors of the economy.

The Aussie hit US92.44c overnight its highest rate since November 2013 after being boosted by Stevens comments at a conference in Hong Kong.

Campbell Newman's $70,000 pay rise takes salary to $380,000 a year

Posted: 26 Mar 2014 10:05 PM PDT

Queensland premier's package with benefits slightly less than what the president of the US, Barack Obama, gets

Queensland premier Campbell Newman has been given a pay rise of almost $70,000.

The Queensland Independent Remuneration Tribunal decided the base salary of Queensland MPs in October and on Thursday made a ruling on additional pay for office holders.

NT parliamentary walkout amid unrest in ruling Country Liberal party

Posted: 26 Mar 2014 10:00 PM PDT

Party's internal strife sets up unprecedented action, only a month before byelection

Three Northern Territory government backbenchers have walked out of parliament during question time, in fresh signs of growing divisions within the ruling Country Liberal party.

After a troubled fortnight in the Territory parliament, on Thursday morning Aboriginal MPs Alison Anderson, Francis Xavier and Larissa Lee took the unprecedented move of leaving the parliament immediately after the opening prayer.

George Brandis race law proposals draw Coalition criticism

Posted: 26 Mar 2014 09:55 PM PDT

Ministers changed attorney general's original draft, and NSW premier speaks out against bigotry

The attorney general, George Brandis, is under pressure to back down on changes to the Racial Discrimination Act as he came under fire from the New South Wales premier and it became clear he was forced to water down the proposal by his cabinet colleagues.

In a strong message to the federal government, the premier, Barry OFarrell, chose the opening of a Chinese history exhibition to say that documenting the migrant story was important because of issues that are happening at a federal level.








Scott Morrison fails again to bring back temporary visas for asylum seekers

Posted: 26 Mar 2014 09:28 PM PDT

Greens and Labor in the Senate succeed with motion that disallows the controversial 'back-door' regulation

The move by the immigration minister, Scott Morrison, to reintroduce a form of temporary protection visas was struck down on Thursday by Labor and the Greens in the Senate.

The disallowance motion is the second time the Coalitions attempts to reintroduce temporary visas for asylum seekers who arrive by boat has been defeated.








Arrest over Chinese bank run

Posted: 26 Mar 2014 09:07 PM PDT

Authorities accuse man accused of spreading rumour that led to flurry of withdrawals from two banks in Jiangsu province

Police in the rural Chinese city of Yancheng have detained a person suspected of spreading rumours that sparked a three-day bank run, security officials said on the city police force's official microblog on Thursday.

Government, bank officials and residents all referred to a rumour that a local bank branch had turned down a client's request to withdraw 200,000 yuan (£19,000/US$32,200), which sparked speculation the bank was insolvent. This prompted a rush among depositors to withdraw cash.








'Flawed' Direct Action climate plan should go, says Senate committee

Posted: 26 Mar 2014 09:07 PM PDT

Increased cuts in emissions and floating carbon price recommended to replace Coalition scheme

The federal governments climate change plan is fundamentally flawed and should be ditched in favour of a floating price on carbon, a Senate committee report has found.

The committee report recommended the government immediately adopt the emissions reduction targets put forward by the independent Climate Change Authority, which the Coalition has vowed to disband.

Washington rescue workers continue search for mudslide survivors

Posted: 26 Mar 2014 08:34 PM PDT

Sixteen bodies pulled from the mud so far, with 90 people still officially unaccounted for after hillside gave way on Saturday

Rescue workers were continuing to search for scores of people still listed missing after a catastrophic landslide in Washington state, as river water backed up behind the debris field.

Sixteen bodies had been pulled from the mud by Wednesday, and another eight have been identified but remain stuck. That brought the probable death toll to 24, although the tally remains at 16 until officials are able to recover the other bodies.

Kristina Keneally 'drove stake through' minute worth millions to Eddie Obeid

Posted: 26 Mar 2014 07:57 PM PDT

Former premier says 'two powerful women' stopped a plan to give Australian Water Holdings lucrative government deal

Former New South Wales premier Kristina Keneally says a plan that would have made the Obeid family and Arthur Sinodinos millions of dollars was stopped because two women in powerful positions said no, saying she drove a stake through the heart of the proposal.

Keneally faced the Independent Commission Against Corruption to give evidence on how she was lobbied while premier to approve a plan for Australian Water Holdings to enter a public-private partnership with the state government.

Home insulation scheme 'kept me up at night', former co-ordinator general says

Posted: 26 Mar 2014 07:57 PM PDT

Mike Mrdak tells royal commission of his reservations about the Rudd government's capacity to deliver the program

The former commonwealth co-ordinator general says the Rudd government's home insulation scheme was the most concerning of all its economic stimulus measures.

Mike Mrdak told the royal commission into the scheme he had reservations about the former government's capacity to deliver a program to insulate some 2.7m households in two and a half years.

John Howard confirms his belief knights and dames are 'anachronistic'

Posted: 26 Mar 2014 07:09 PM PDT

Former prime minister and staunch monarchist fails to support Tony Abbott's reintroduction of special honours

The former Liberal prime minister John Howard has reaffirmed his view against reintroducing knights and dames into the Australian honours system, pointing to his autobiography in which he said even conservatives would find the move "somewhat anachronistic".

The Australian Financial Review quoted Howard as saying his views on knights and dames had not changed since he wrote his book, Lazarus Rising.

Bletchley codebreaker dies aged 93

Posted: 26 Mar 2014 06:32 PM PDT

Raymond 'Jerry' Roberts was one of elite team who helped decode messages sent between Hitler and his high command

One of the last of a team of wartime British codebreakers who deciphered Hitler's messages at Bletchley Park has died after a short illness.

Raymond "Jerry" Roberts, 93, from Liphook in Hampshire, was part of a group that cracked the German high command's secret code.


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