Manning's gender request sets up showdown

Bradley Manning's gender request could lead to a legal showdown over how he could live behind bars. Source: AAP

BRADLEY Manning is the first transgender military inmate to ask for hormone treatments, officials say.

His request could lead to a legal showdown over how - and if - the soldier convicted in the WikiLeaks case would ever be allowed to live as a female behind bars.

Current Pentagon policy dictates that transgender soldiers are not allowed to serve and Manning won't be discharged until being released from prison and all his potential appeals are exhausted.

Furthermore, the military does not allow soldiers to undergo hormone treatments while in the all-male prison at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.

However, this is the first time officials have heard of a request for such treatment, said Maria Tolleson, a spokeswoman with the Army Medical Command in Arlington, Virginia.

"We're just now dealing with the issue," she said, adding it would be premature to say there has been any movement toward offering the care to all transgender inmates as a result of Manning's case.

Manning also won't be allowed to dress as a woman, as wigs and bras are not allowed. The soldier's gender dysphoria - the sense of being a woman in a man's body - coupled with the military convictions could leave him to face an isolated future, shunned by fellow inmates and transgender veterans on the outside who believe the leaks put Manning's comrades in danger.

It is not known whether Manning could be transferred to a female prison, though defence lawyer David Coombs has said that was not the motive behind the Army private's statement on Thursday asking to be referred to by feminine pronouns and signed "Chelsea E. Manning."

On NBC's "Today" show on Thursday, Coombs vowed to "do everything in my power to make sure that they are forced" to ensure Manning is provided with the hormone treatment, suggesting a lawsuit could be in the offing if the military doesn't comply.

The American Civil Liberties Union, the Human Rights Campaign, along with other advocates, also say Manning should get the treatment.

Coombs didn't respond to The Associated Press' telephone and email messages requesting comment on Friday.

Manning was diagnosed with gender identity disorder by an Army clinical psychologist while serving in Iraq in 2010, and by a Navy psychiatrist who examined Manning last year, according to their court-martial testimony.

As of last year, civilian federal prisons are required to develop treatment plans - including hormone therapy, if necessary - for inmates diagnosed with gender identity disorder, now called gender dysphoria. Unlike military prisons, the policy also allows inmates who believe they are the wrong gender to dress and live accordingly as part of their individual treatment plans.

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Greens get back to cleaner roots

The Australian Greens are getting back to their environmental roots, pushing for a Clean Air Act. Source: AAP

THE Australian Greens are getting back to their environmental roots, using their national campaign launch to pledge a Clean Air Act.

The new law would establish national standards and regulation for air quality, instead of the current "patchwork" of different approaches across states.

It would also require coal trains to be covered to stop coal dust contaminating residential areas and mandate health impact assessments of new mining developments.

The Clean Air Act would also impose tighter emissions standards for new wood heaters.

"What is more important than the air we breathe?" Greens leader Christine Milne said in her speech at the launch in Canberra.

"Yet today we have communities where children are getting sick because big companies are getting their war."

The minor party says the new law is needed because there are no signs the national plan for clean air being developed through the COAG process is coming to a consensus on tough standards to protect health.

Senator Milne also used the campaign launch to promise a senate inquiry into refugee policy.

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Jockey Nikolic toe-to-toe with cop

A SENIOR police officer says he sat frozen in shock as jockey Danny Nikolic stood toe-to-toe abusing one of his colleagues in a Melbourne police station.

Nikolic is charged with assaulting Detective Senior Constable Julio Salerno after an official interview at St Kilda police station in March 2011.

Sergeant Dave Eadie told the Melbourne Magistrates Court Nikolic had participated willingly in the interview but became agitated after having a short conversation with Det Sen Const Salerno after the recording devices were switched off.

"Nikolic said he wasn't happy with Julio Salerno being present," Sgt Eadie told the court.

"He told him 'get the f*** out of here, I'm not speaking with you'."

Sgt Eadie said the two men stood up and their foreheads were touching and Nikolic was red in the face.

Det Sen Const Salerno pushed Nikolic back into his chair but the jockey immediately bounced back to his feet and continued the confrontation.

The court heard they again stood with their foreheads touching with Nikolic goading the officer urging him to "have a go".

"I sat there and froze, it was behaviour that shocked me," Sgt Eadie said.

Nikolic had come to the police station to be questioned about other matters, including an alleged assault on fellow jockey Mark Pegus with which he was duly charged.

Both assault charges are being heard by Magistrate Angela Bolger.

Pegus claims Nikolic, who is banned from riding after making threats against Victoria's chief racing steward, assaulted him at the Caulfield stables of trainer Byron Cozamanis in January 2011.

But he says he only reported the incident after Nikolic allegedly assaulted his girlfriend two months later.

Pegus told the court an altercation between the two began with a phone call in which Nikolic accused him of spreading rumours about his brother. It continued the next morning when the two arrived at the stable to ride trackwork.

In the belief that they were going to discuss their differences, Pegus said he followed Nikolic into the stable office where things turned violent.

"As I walked in Danny flew at me and started throwing punches," he told the court.

Det Sen Const Salerno is due to give evidence in the contested hearing on Friday.

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Qld cop living 'worst nightmare': Stewart

A QUEENSLAND cop who shot dead a man wielding a machete at the scene of a double murder was living "every police officers' worst nightmare".

The officer and another officer found the bodies of a man and a woman, both aged 43, after being called to a Coolum Beach property.

He shot the machete wielding man, 42, who later died in hospital.

It is believed the homicide victims are a local couple and the alleged assailant was the man's brother, but police would not confirm it.

Queensland Police Union President Ian Leavers said the officer who used deadly force did what he had to do to protect his own life.

"Things unfolded extremely quickly," Mr Leavers told AAP.

"The police officer had no other option and in instances like this, you would only use a firearm to defend your life and we support the police officers involved."

Mr Leavers described the officer as a well-respected family man who had more than 10 years experience in the service.

Police Commissioner Ian Stewart said as the man was armed it seemed the officer had acted appropriately, but he would still be tormented by his actions.

"This is every police officers' worst nightmare," Mr Stewart said.

"Every time they go to a call like this, they just don't know what they're going to confront.

"My heart goes out for them for what they had to face."

Mr Stewart said the man died on the 10th anniversary of slain Caboolture cop Senior Sergeant Perry Irwin's death.

It made the events overnight even more poignant, particularly given they began in similar circumstances, he said.

The Ethical Standards Command has interviewed both officers. The coroner would also investigate.

Yandina-Coolum Road, where the incident occurred, was closed for most of Thursday as police carried out their investigations.

Queensland Premier Campbell Newman said parliament's thoughts and prayers were with the family of the victims and the two officers involved.

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Profit fall for fixtures group GWA

KITCHEN and bathroom fixtures firm GWA expects rising building approvals to lead to higher sales in the second half of the current financial year.

GWA's net profit of $32.4 million in the 2012/13 financial year was down 18 per cent from $39.7 million last year.

Revenue of $565 million was down six per cent on the previous year, as sales from its bathroom and kitchen division and its hot water division fell.

Managing director Peter Crowley it was hard to assess what was ahead for the 2013/14 year.

"But gradually improving building approvals should flow through to higher sales in the second half of the financial year," he said.

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Chinese tourists more independent: survey

CHINESE tourists are more independent, with more choosing solo adventures over travelling in groups, a survey shows.

Results of the Chinese International Travel Monitor (CITM) survey, released on Wednesday, found nearly two thirds of the 3000 Chinese polled preferred to travel independently.

While 70 per cent of the 1500 hoteliers surveyed said they'd noticed a rise in the number of Chinese travelling on their own.

Chinese tourists were more confident and were able to understand and speak English better than five years ago, hotel owners said.

"Increasingly, we are seeing travellers from China looking to create their own tailor-made itineraries," Tourism Australia (TA) boss Andrew McEvoy said.

"China is the single most important market for Australian tourism to achieve its long-term plans for growth."

TA recently launched a Chinese version of its website tailored to that country's preferred Australian travel experiences.

The CITM survey also revealed Chinese tourists want more hotels to accept Chinese payment methods.

They also want translated TV shows, newspapers and magazines and would like hotel owners to hire more Madarin speaking staff.

Johan Svanstrom, boss of Hotels.com which carried out the survey, said growth in the Chinese market appeared to be outstripping the pace of change in the hotel industry.

About a quarter of hoteliers said they offered cultural awareness training to staff and just one in 10 had welcome signs and entertainment in Mandarin.

"Hoteliers are making positive steps towards catering to an increasingly mobile and savvy Chinese travel market," Mr Svanstrom said.

"But the global hotel industry needs to adapt facilities and services to cater to the world's largest market of travellers."

About one in 10 tourists to Australia now come from China.

The number of Chinese heading Down Under has almost tripled over the past decade, with more than 630,000 arriving in Australia last year.

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Labor, coalition launch in Brisbane

LABOR and the coalition will both launch their federal election campaigns in Brisbane.

The coalition launch is scheduled for this Sunday in the Queensland capital.

Labor's launch will follow on September 1, heading into the final week of the campaign.

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's home city of Brisbane also hosted the two major party launches during the 2010 election campaign.

The coalition launch's program is still being finalised, but it is understood Queensland premier Campbell Newman has been invited.

Mr Newman has been the target of a Labor attack calling his public sector job cuts the "entree" to Opposition Leader Tony Abbott's "main course" of federal budget cuts.

Mr Abbott has promised a commission of audit similar to that run in Queensland after the Liberal National Party's landslide victory in 2012.

The Labor event will be the first time a major party leader has launched a national campaign in his own electorate.

Mr Rudd attended the low-key Labor launch in 2010, but did not play a role.

Former prime minister Bob Hawke introduced Julia Gillard to the party faithful, having ousted Mr Rudd less than two months earlier.

The coalition's 2010 launch was a set-piece event, marred only by a streaker protesting the treatment of refugees.

Queensland is the key to Labor's chances of retaining office.

It has 30 lower house seats, half of which are held with margins of five per cent or lower.

Labor holds only eight of these seats and must pick up a swag of others if it is to have any chance of winning on September 7.

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Aussie shares dip on US stimulus thoughts

AUSTRALIAN shares have slipped as speculation about a winding back of US stimulus weighed on resource stocks.

Materials stocks were among the worse performers on Tuesday, with the mining giants losing more than the overall market's 0.7 per cent decline.

BHP Billiton lost 50 cents, or 1.35 per cent, to $36.54 as Rio Tinto ditched 63 cents to $59.51.

After the local market closed, BHP announced a 29.5 per cent fall in full-year net profit to $US10.9 billion ($A12.03 billion).

Speculation about a tapering of US Federal Reserve stimulus measures also buffeted Asian equity markets, and caused the Indian rupee to hit an all-time low against the greenback.

"It's a story of emerging market weakness, basically," IG markets strategist Chris Weston said.

The big four banks had mixed fortunes, with National Australia Bank gaining 21 cents to $31.57 after posting a $1.7 billion net profit for the three months to June.

ANZ was also up, adding 12 cents at $29.56, but Commonwealth Bank was down 88 cents at $70.27, and Westpac shed 43 cents at $31.14.

Investors appeared to overlook minutes from the Reserve Bank of Australia's (RBA) August meeting, where members agreed the possibility of closing off more rate cuts should be considered.

"These minutes were stale," Mr Weston said.

Meanwhile, QBE Insurance Group shares lost 93 cents, or 5.46 per cent, to $16.10 after posting a 37 per cent fall in half-year net profit to $US477 million ($A526.29 million), following a fall in demand for US mortgage insurance.

KEY FACTS

* At 1615 AEST on Tuesday, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index was down 34.3 points, or 0.67 per cent, at 5,078.2 points.

* The broader All Ordinaries index was 33.5 points lower, or 0.66 per cent, at 5,068.8 points.

* The September share price index futures contract was down 30 points at 5058 points, with 24,195 contracts traded.

* The spot price of gold in Sydney finished at $US1358.85, down $US14.45 from $US1373.30 on Monday.

* National turnover was 1.7 billion securities worth $4.5 billion.

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Greens risk Indonesia war: Katter

The Greens' policy on live animal exports risks war with Indonesia, Independent MP Bob Katter says. Source: AAP

MAVERICK Queensland MP Bob Katter has declared the Greens' policy on live animal exports would risk a war with Indonesia over food.

Mr Katter has hit back at criticism from Greens senator Lee Rhiannon, who says the preference deal between Katter's Australian Party (KAP) and the ALP in Queensland threatens to increase the live export trade.

"We are fighting a war right at this moment over oil," Mr Katter told reporters in Hobart.

"If we're prepared to fight wars continuously ... over oil, don't you think these people might get a bit upset when we cut off their food supply?"

Mr Katter said millions of Indonesians lacked protein in their diet and Australia had already locked them out of fisheries.

He accused the Greens of being condescending towards an important regional neighbour.

"(It) just makes me want to cry for my country," he said.

"Don't you see how these people see us as arrogant, European colonialists?"

Senator Rhiannon said Indonesia was aiming to be 90 per cent self-sufficient in beef cattle by 2014.

She said the Greens would move another private member's bill when parliament resumed with the goal of ending the trade.

"Labor should expect a huge backlash over this preference deal because they know many Labor voters, as well as most Australians, want this cruel live export trade to stop," Senator Rhiannon said in a statement.

The KAP deal with Labor also came under fire from Mr Katter's former party The Nationals.

Queensland senator Ron Boswell said the ALP's chances in four of the state's crucial seats had been boosted by the agreement.

"Are KAP candidates going to stand before voters in regional Queensland seats and say, 'Vote for me and I will deliver three more years of a Rudd Labor government'?" Senator Boswell said.

Mr Katter flew in to Hobart to campaign with his fledgling party's two Tasmanian candidates, Geoff Herbert (Senate) and Sarah Ugalde (Franklin).

In a colourful press conference, he said Australia's supermarket duopoly was hurting the state's farmers and called for the timber industry to be rebuilt.

"We are down here to drive a stake into the heart of the Greens," he said.

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Parental leave pay too generous: Barnett

TONY Abbott's paid parental leave scheme is overly-generous, West Australian Premier Colin Barnett says.

Mr Barnett - who the federal opposition leader said in February he wanted to model himself on - made the comment on Monday after welcoming road funding pledges from Mr Abbott over the weekend.

Under the controversial scheme - which has been labelled an unaffordable vote winner - mothers would get six months leave at their normal wage.

"I support paid parental leave ... (but) I think in many respects it probably is too generous," Mr Barnett told reporters.

"If Tony Abbott becomes prime minister and that scheme is introduced, we will co-operate in terms of the administration, but we will not be contributing money to the scheme ... as has been suggested."

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Our robot future on display in Brisbane

Robot farming is just one possibility that was on display at the robot convention in Queensland. Source: AAP

SWARMS of robots tend to crops in central Queensland.

A robotic clone hosts a lecture at a Brisbane university for his master, who is more than 7000km away in Japan.

A band plays while flying robots light up the sky around them.

This isn't the future. It's Robotronica - a futuristic event held at Queensland University of Technology in Brisbane on Sunday.

QUT creative director Jonathan Parsons says the event doesn't just showcase future possibilities, but highlights how advanced robotics presently is.

"We tend to use the term robots when it's something a bit alien or strange, but in the '50s dishwashers were robots, but we don't refer to them as that anymore," he told AAP.

"Now their completely part of the fabric of our society and one day, all these things will be too."

Swarm Farm Robotics Director Andrew Bate says his project is the future of agriculture.

One his farm near Emerald in central Queensland, Mr Bates is developing small tractors that will operate unmanned with others in a swarm, to replace the bulky, expensive models currently used.

"We keep getting bigger and bigger, but now the focus is on being smaller and more efficient," Mr Bate said.

"It's better for the soil and it's far more cost effective."

The star of the show was Geminoid, a robotic "clone" of his creator, Japanese roboticist Hiroshi Ishiguro.

Geminoid, who blinks and has other subconscious human traits, had his crowd entranced when he re-presented a lecture his creator did at QUT just days before.

Robotics workshops and a gig from Brisbane pop group 7-Bit Hero, who incorporate smart phone gaming with their live show, was also featured at the event.

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PNG committed to boat deal: Rudd

Kevin Rudd insists Papua New Guinea is committed to his hardline asylum seeker resettlement plan. Source: AAP

AUSTRALIA and Papua New Guinea stand by their agreement that asylum seekers arriving by boat will be sent to PNG for processing and eventual settlement, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd says.

Mr Rudd was queried on Sunday about the deal, signed on July 19, after PNG Prime Minister Peter O'Neill told Fairfax Media he had not agreed to settle all asylum seekers processed on Manus Island and found to be genuine refugees.

Mr O'Neill was reported as saying Australia would need to take back a share of them.

Mr Rudd said his PNG counterpart was simply reaffirming the conditions of their deal.

"These are all contained and outlined in absolute detail in the agreement that we reached with Papua New Guinea," he told reporters in Sydney.

"He stands by that, I stand by it and frankly, it's there in black and white."

On Saturday night, Mr O'Neill said PNG was "100 per cent committed" to the deal.

"People who are found to be refugees ... will be settled in Papua New Guinea and other participating countries in the region," he said in short statement.

"They will not be returned to Australia under the agreement."

Meanwhile, Immigration Minister Tony Burke says media reports that people smugglers are now offering to fly asylum seekers to Australia show Labor's hardline policies are discouraging people from taking dangerous boat journeys.

Some asylum seekers in Indonesia are apparently being told they can fly to Australia on fake tourist visas to sidestep the Rudd government's Pacific resettlement policy.

"This is just another desperate measure from people smugglers realising that the game's up," Mr Burke told reporters in Sydney.

Mr Burke denied flying was a loophole available to asylum seekers trying to reach Australia.

"If they could have gotten away with this they would have tried it years ago," he said.

Opposition immigration spokesman Scott Morrison also sought to downplay the report.

"We have very strong controls on who can get on planes and who can get into the country," he told ABC television.

"That's why people get on boats and pay people smugglers many times over what they would pay to get on an airplane to come to Australia."

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