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LNP students' border protection pub crawl 'appallingly insensitive'
WA Senate election becomes ever more of a lucky dip
Icac inquiry: AWH had just $36 in the bank when it was trying to close deal
Crimea: no more McDonald's or methadone
WA Senate election: Clive Palmer sends message loud and clear, via 800 ads
NT government's hold on power in limbo as backbenchers resign
Immigration lawyers quiet on process for handling asylum data breach
North Korean cargo ship sinks off coast of South Korea
Sophie Collombet death: Brisbane police name person of interest
Police wrestle with Icac intruder video
Qantas flight makes emergency landing in Adelaide following smoke warning
Rebel Victorian MP Geoff Shaw 'takes up the cry for the unborn'
MH370 black box search begins as detection window gets smaller
WikiLeaks party to return to Syria in mission to help 'ordinary people'
Man claiming to be 'Peter Hore, serial pest' arrested at Icac video
Clive Palmer says PUP senators will vote to repeal carbon tax
Tony Abbott declines to rule out refugee resettlement deal with Cambodia
NDIS uncertainty could trigger rush on support item purchases, says advocate
Labor WA candidate Joe Bullock's 'weird, lefty trend' speech in full - audio
Bionic kangaroo's one small hop is a giant leap in the field of automation
Morwell blasts leave thousands without power
Gippsland power lines blasts caught on video
Clive Palmer tells Lateline's Tony Jones to 'shut up' video
Philip Ruddock defends new covert, taxpayer-funded dirt unit
Intruder storms Icac hearing

LNP students' border protection pub crawl 'appallingly insensitive'

Posted: 04 Apr 2014 01:31 AM PDT

University of Queensland calls event a 'trivialisation of the life-endangering journeys asylum seekers face'

The University of Queensland has condemned a group of Liberal National party students for an appallingly insensitive pub crawl celebrating a hundred long days without any new arrivals.

The event, which was advertised on Facebook, made a number of references to asylum seekers who arrive by boat and themed the pub crawl on the Coalitions hardline stance on border protection.

WA Senate election becomes ever more of a lucky dip

Posted: 04 Apr 2014 01:31 AM PDT

The end result of the poll rerun is proving difficult to predict, and the political stakes are extremely high

Labors lead candidate says voters cant trust his party, the Palmer United party (PUP) candidates have gone missing, the Greens candidate is DJing, 75 people get to vote twice and the whole thing is an unprecedented rerun because the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) messed up last time. Oh, and it could have a critical impact on how the government gets its legislation through the upper house. The West Australian Senate poll would have jumped the shark, if the state wasnt culling them.

The outcome is extremely difficult to predict. Most observers, asked to hazard a guess, say the Coalition could get three of the six Senate seats, Labor two and the Greens one.

Icac inquiry: AWH had just $36 in the bank when it was trying to close deal

Posted: 04 Apr 2014 01:25 AM PDT

Corruption inquiry told Australian Water Holdings wanted to buy $400m worth of assets from Sydney Water for half the price

When Australian Water Holdings was trying to close a deal which would have made the Obeid family and Arthur Sinodinos millions it had just $36 in the bank, a corruption inquiry has heard.

The Independent Commission Against Corruption (Icac) hearings into AWH were interrupted on Friday when a man who yelled Im Peter Hore, serial pest stormed the proceedings, injuring a special constable in the process.

Crimea: no more McDonald's or methadone

Posted: 04 Apr 2014 01:12 AM PDT

Russia's annexation of Crimea sees shutdown of fast food chain and discontinuation of methadone programme for drug users

If people in Crimea were still wondering how much life might change following the Russian takeover of the peninsula, they now have an answer: no more McDonald's.

The fast food chain has announced it is closing its outlets in Crimea's main cities of Simferopol, Sevastopol and Yalta, due to what a statement on McDonald's Ukraine website referred to only as "manufacturing reasons".

WA Senate election: Clive Palmer sends message loud and clear, via 800 ads

Posted: 04 Apr 2014 12:58 AM PDT

Palmer United party has spent nearly half a million dollars on advertising, more than the other parties combined

The Palmer United party has spent more on advertising in the West Australian Senate election than all the other parties put together shelling out almost $500,000 on more than 800 ads.

An advertising monitoring company, Ebiquity, has calculated that over the four-week campaign, Palmer spent $480,000 on 804 ads.

NT government's hold on power in limbo as backbenchers resign

Posted: 04 Apr 2014 12:04 AM PDT

Alison Anderson, Larissa Lee and Francis Xavier Kurrupuwu handed in their resignation letters on Friday

Three rebel Country Liberal party (CLP) members accused of holding a gun to the head of the Northern Territory government have quit the party.

Alison Anderson, Larissa Lee and Frances Xavier Kurrupuwu had been threatening to abandon the CLP unless their demands, including the reinstatement of an Aboriginal affairs department, with Anderson at the helm, were met.

Immigration lawyers quiet on process for handling asylum data breach

Posted: 04 Apr 2014 12:00 AM PDT

Judge says proceedings would be 'simpler if we have some indication of what the process is'.

Lawyers for the Department of Immigration were unable to detail in court the processes by which the department was dealing with people in detention who had their personal details disclosed in a massive data breach.

A letter the department secretary, Martin Bowles, sent to detainees affected by the breach, who number almost 10,000, informs them the impact will be assessed individually in line with normal processes.

North Korean cargo ship sinks off coast of South Korea

Posted: 03 Apr 2014 11:44 PM PDT

South Korean rescuers search for missing sailors after bodies of two found along with three survivors

The bodies of two North Korean sailors and three survivors have been found off the coast of South Korea after their cargo ship sank. South Korean rescuers are searching for 11 others still missing.

The Mongolian-flagged ship was carrying 16 North Korean crew members when it sent a distress signal in international waters about 80 miles (130km) south of the southern port city of Yeosu, South Korea's coastguard said in a statement.

Sophie Collombet death: Brisbane police name person of interest

Posted: 03 Apr 2014 11:20 PM PDT

Police launch appeal to find Benjamin James Milward, who was seen on CCTV at the same time as exchange student

Police have released the name and description of a man sought for questioning over the death of French student Sophie Collombet in South Brisbane.

Benjamin James Milward, 25, was seen on CCTV around the times of Collombets last known movements.

Police wrestle with Icac intruder video

Posted: 03 Apr 2014 10:51 PM PDT

New video footage from the Independent Commission Against Corruption hearings in Sydney (and permitted by Icac) shows man identifying himself as 'Peter Hore, serial pest' being wrestled by police. A police officer required hospitalisation following the incident at the Water Holdings Inquiry. Proceedings were halted for half an hour at the courtroom on Friday

Qantas flight makes emergency landing in Adelaide following smoke warning

Posted: 03 Apr 2014 10:48 PM PDT

Airbus A330 on Sydney to Perth flight with 266 people lands without incident after it was diverted as a safety precaution

A Qantas flight has made an emergency landing in Adelaide after a smoke warning alarm indicated there was a fire in the cargo hold.

Emergency crews greeted the A330 aircraft at Adelaide airport about 12.40pm on Friday, and passengers safely disembarked. No one was hurt.

Rebel Victorian MP Geoff Shaw 'takes up the cry for the unborn'

Posted: 03 Apr 2014 10:32 PM PDT

Independent who holds balance of power drafts private member's bill to amend state's abortion law

The rebel MP Geoff Shaw appears determined to use his hold on the balance of power in Victoria to challenge the states abortion laws, telling the parliament he will take up the cry for the unborn.

The former Liberal MP, now an independent, is drafting a private members bill to scrap a section of Victorias abortion law that obligates doctors who conscientiously object to terminations to refer women to other doctors willing to carry them out.

MH370 black box search begins as detection window gets smaller

Posted: 03 Apr 2014 10:18 PM PDT

Australian customs vessel Ocean Shield has deployed an underwater detection vehicle to search for the planes black boxes

The underwater search for the black boxes of Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 has begun as the window for detecting the locator beacons transmission grows closer to expiring, according to the head of Australias search co-ordination centre.

The missing plane is believed to be lost in the Indian ocean, claiming the lives of all 239 passengers on board, according to Malaysian authorities. While Malaysia bears responsibility for the investigation and recovery of the flight, Australia has been designated an accredited representative of the search after prime minister Tony Abbott and the Malaysian prime minister, Najib Razak, met on Thursday to discuss the search.

WikiLeaks party to return to Syria in mission to help 'ordinary people'

Posted: 03 Apr 2014 09:58 PM PDT

Asked if he would again meet President Bashar al-Assad, party chairman John Shipton says answer is 'a flat no'

Members of the WikiLeaks party will depart for Iran and Syria this week, paying their second visit to Damascus to distribute aid and run activities for children affected by the countrys ongoing civil war.

The partys chairman, John Shipton, will be joined by Father David Smith, an Anglican priest and social worker from Sydney, on a mission to aid the ordinary people of Syria, in an effort to help ameliorate, in some small way, their suffering, according to a party statement.

Man claiming to be 'Peter Hore, serial pest' arrested at Icac video

Posted: 03 Apr 2014 08:48 PM PDT

A man claiming to be Peter Hore has been expelled from the Australian Water Holdings inquiry at the Independent Commission Against Corruption hearings in Sydney. The man introduced himself as 'Peter Hore, serial pest' to reporters and claimed he was being hurt as police were arresting him. One police officer had to be treated by ambulance crews for a head injury

Clive Palmer says PUP senators will vote to repeal carbon tax

Posted: 03 Apr 2014 08:27 PM PDT

Leader corrected candidate's support for renewable energy target and said focus should be on reducing nature's carbon emissions

Clive Palmer has said his two elected senators have reached the unanimous conclusion they will vote to repeal the carbon tax and insisted efforts to reduce greenhouse emissions should focus on nature rather than human enterprise.

The leader of the Palmer United party (PUP), who has been campaigning on behalf of his near-invisible candidates in Saturdays rerun of the West Australian Senate election, also insisted his lead candidate (and employee) Dio Wang had not meant a statement he released earlier in the campaign in which Wang backed the existing renewable energy target (RET).

Tony Abbott declines to rule out refugee resettlement deal with Cambodia

Posted: 03 Apr 2014 08:05 PM PDT

PM says any support would be welcome as immigration minister visits Cambodia for talks on people smuggling

Tony Abbott has declined to rule out a refugee resettlement deal with Cambodia as the immigration minister, Scott Morrison, visited the country for discussions on regional solutions to people smuggling.

Morrison is the second government minister to visit Cambodia since February, after foreign minister Julie Bishop also visited to discuss regional co-operation on asylum seekers. During this visit Bishop refused to give details of the talks, but the Cambodian foreign minister, Hor Namhong, disclosed to reporters he was very seriously considering an offer to resettle refugees who had sought asylum in Australia.

NDIS uncertainty could trigger rush on support item purchases, says advocate

Posted: 03 Apr 2014 07:51 PM PDT

Craig Wallace urges Coalition to assuage anxiety about the national disability insurance schemes future

The Abbott government must do a better job to assure people about the future of the national disability insurance scheme, says a leading advocate, who argues the anxiety could encourage rushed purchases of once-in-10-year support items.

Craig Wallace, president of People with Disability Australia, welcomed plans by a joint parliamentary committee to visit areas currently benefiting from the early stages of the rollout to speak with participants, families and carers about their experience.

Labor WA candidate Joe Bullock's 'weird, lefty trend' speech in full - audio

Posted: 03 Apr 2014 07:46 PM PDT

Labor's WA senate candidate Joe Bullock has come under fire for a speech he gave to the Dawson Society for Philosophy and Culture in November. In the speaker's forum address, a call to arms for people of faith, he took aim at the 'weird, lefty' trends in the Labor party, defended the role of unions and spoke out against gay marriage. Listen to the speech in full here

Bionic kangaroo's one small hop is a giant leap in the field of automation

Posted: 03 Apr 2014 07:12 PM PDT

Engineers have spent two years creating a robot that emulates the animal's energy-saving jumping style

If it looks like a kangaroo and hops like a kangaroo, it could be a sophisticated robot powered by electric drives and pneumatic pumps.

After two years of research, German engineers have unveiled a "bionic kangaroo" which closely emulates the marsupial's unique hop.

Morwell blasts leave thousands without power

Posted: 03 Apr 2014 06:37 PM PDT

High-voltage power lines fell on to a road near Morwell, sparking a small grass fire and cutting off electricity to 80,000 homes

Electricity was cut off for 80,000 homes around Morwell and east of Bairnsdale, south-east Victoria, on Friday, after a series of explosions when high-voltage power lines fell on to a road.

Gippsland power lines blasts caught on video

Posted: 03 Apr 2014 06:26 PM PDT

A passerby captures a series of blasts near the Hazelwood power station. Tens of thousands of homes in the Victorian region of Gippsland were left without power after the fire in high-voltage power lines about 7.30 on Friday morning. Witnesses reported bright flashes and a low rumbling sound. The blasts took place near the coal-fired plant at Hazelwood

Clive Palmer tells Lateline's Tony Jones to 'shut up' video

Posted: 03 Apr 2014 06:25 PM PDT

MP Clive Palmer has told the host of the ABC's Lateline program to 'shut up' during a heated interview. Palmer was being challenged by Tony Jones over his views on climate change, and asked Jones to 'shut up' and let him answer, adding the pair could have a fight if Jones wanted. Candidates of the Palmer United party are up for election in the West Australian Senate vote this weekend

Philip Ruddock defends new covert, taxpayer-funded dirt unit

Posted: 03 Apr 2014 05:59 PM PDT

Coalition Advisory Service was set up to counsel Coalition MPs and help them respond to opposition criticism

Government whip Philip Ruddock has defended a new taxpayer-funded unit set up to advise Coalition members and help them respond to opposition criticism.

Labor has been seeking details about the unit, known as the Coalition Advisory Service (CAS).