NT doctors in Tacloban as Aussies dig deep

AUSTRALIANS have no prejudice when it comes to dealing with disaster, says the Filipino consul-general to the Northern Territory.

The NT government handed the Red Cross a cheque for $10,000 on Sunday to help with relief efforts in the aftermath of Typhoon Haiyan, which struck the Philippines just over a week ago, while a national trauma response team deployed on Wednesday with a fully-portable hospital.

Consul-General John Rivas says the 8000-strong Filipino community in the Territory has been touched by the generosity shown by the rest of the country.

"It's the inherent nature of Australians to be very responsive to the cause, and they will bend backwards and forwards to help," he told AAP.

"Australians are unique because there's no racial barrier in terms of assistance - we are as one."

A community event held by the Filipino Association of the NT (FAANT) on Saturday night saw 2000 people raise $20,000 with more pledges rolling in, and so many bands and entertainers wanted to perform that a second event will be held next month.

One nine-year-old boy donated his entire week's pocket money.

"It breaks my heart," said Judith Ventic, the association's vice president.

The National Critical Care and Trauma Response Centre (NCCTRC) on Wednesday sent a team of 37 to the hardest-hit city of Tacloban, which Mr Rivas said was being referred to as the "city of stench".

The team there is running a full 60-bed hospital, with two operating theatres, said centre director Len Notaras.

Yesterday they saw 55 people, performed five operations, and will see more than 3500 patients over the next two weeks before a second team rotates in to replace them.

"This is a first for Australia, coming out of the Northern Territory," Dr Notaras told reporters in Darwin.

He said the significance of the damage couldn't be underestimated.

"It's up there with the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami - the death, destruction and tragedy that has occurred, and the next few weeks are going to be critical in rebuilding Tacloban and the areas around it," he said.

"The first of the support is there and working very, very well. We will make a difference and there will be lives saved."

The primary concern over the coming days and weeks would be public and environmental health issues, with contagious disease outbreaks possible if infrastructure isn't repaired.

He said local authorities were responding well, with the first sanitation facilities put in place on Sunday morning.

The centre was ensuring the Australian doctors don't become overwrought in appalling conditions, Dr Notaras said.

"The huge tragedy they've seen, bodies upon bodies, the trauma and the work - almost 24 hours a day in some circumstances - we don't want to exhaust a resource so it becomes less than safe and adequate," he said.

"We're bringing first-world medicine to a circumstance we saw in Haiti and other places, where third-world responses were being conducted. We're endeavouring to bring the very best of the best."

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Sydney foreign workers back-paid

FOREIGN construction workers allegedly mistreated by their boss have been given $216,000 back pay and had their wages lifted closer to the rate they were initially promised.

In August 18 Hungarian men had been promised $30 an hour to move to Australia on temporary working visas and build an automated warehouse at Eastern Creek in Sydney, CFMEU NSW assistant state secretary Rebel Hanlon said in a statement.

"Instead of the $30 an hour they were promised the men were paid about $15 an hour, worked six days a week and claim they were verbally abused on the job," Mr Hanlon said.

Three workers were sent home after complaining about conditions, he added.

Members of the Hungarian community at Blacktown raised concerns with the CFMEU who then met with the Austrian construction company, Assmont, to investigate the men's situation.

"Assmont (has) now agreed to back pay all the workers including three men who were sent home by the company after they complained about conditions," Mr Hanlon said.

"The men will also all now be paid proper rates and all other conditions they are entitled to."

Under the agreement between the CFMEU and Assmont, the men will be back-paid a total of $216,000 and their hourly wage will rise to $29.10.

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Schoolies trapped in elevator

Schoolies madness has begun, with 23 teens trapped in a Sunshine Coast elevator. Source: The Courier-Mail

On the first afternoon of the annual Schoolies festival, 23 teens became trapped in an overloaded lift in a Surfers Paradise highrise.
The teens wedged themselves in to an elevator at the Skyline North Tower at Chevron Renaissance about 4pm.
Police, ambulance and fire rescue crews rushed to the scene, with the group freed about 20 minutes later.
There were no reported injuries.
The incident sets the tone for the rest of the week, where Year 12 graduates famously let their hair down in a seven-day party.
Officials expect about 28,000 schoolies to enter the Surfers Paradise party, before a similar number arrive from southern states next week.

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Elderly man dies in country NSW crash

A man has died and another man has been airlifted to hospital following a crash in northern NSW. Source: AAP

AN elderly man has died in a car crash in northern NSW.

The collision, involving a Toyota Hilux and Volvo sedan, happened on the Oxley Highway near Gunnedah shortly before 3pm (AEDT) on Saturday, police say.

The Volvo driver, aged in his 80's, died at the scene.

The other driver was trapped in his car before he was released and airlifted to Tamworth Base Hospital.

The highway is expected to remain closed for a number of hours.

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Cleo brings back the centrefold

ALL the single ladies, all the single ladies, gather round. The Cleo centrefold is back.

And the man who has dared to bare for the spread is Sydney model Jordan Stenmark.

You may have heard your mothers, aunties or big sisters talking about the spread which showcased good looking men wearing very little.

The Cleo centrefold was first introduced in November 1972 by then editor, Ita Buttrose, and actor Jack Thompson was the man brave enough to disrobe for the spread - and disrobe he did with just his hand strategically placed to barely protect his modesty.

The subject of the centrefold also formed part of the plotline for the recent drama Paper Giants: The Birth of Cleo.

In 1985, then Cleo editor Lisa Wilkinson replaced the centrefold with the Cleo Bachelor of the Year.

Outgoing Cleo editor, Sharri Markson, said bringing back the centrefold was something she wanted to do for her readers.

"I noticed how much our readers loved Bachelor and it's only once a year, and I think girls want to see gorgeous men every month instead of just once a year," she told AAP on Friday.

The editor said the centrefold has come back over the years from time to time, although mostly with a playful element.

"You know, sometimes they might feature a banana," she said.

Stenmark, 21, has modelled for Ralph Lauren and Calvin Klein alongside his identical twin brother, Zac.

"I chose to feature Jordan over Zac as Jordan is single which I prefer because it gives the reader hope," Markson said.

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Vic Labor MPs Madden, Viney to retire

Former Victorian government minister Justin Madden will quit politics at the next state election. Source: AAP

HIGH-PROFILE Labor MP Justin Madden won't contest the next Victorian election, becoming the seventh opposition member to quit the party since the last poll.

The former government minister and AFL footballer says he will step down immediately from the opposition frontbench.

Mr Madden said his decision to step down would allow Labor leader Daniel Andrews to appoint a replacement and help the renewal of the party before the November 2014 election.

As planning minister under the previous Brumby Labor government, Mr Madden came under fire over a planned sham public consultation process concerning the Windsor Hotel redevelopment.

He said he hoped he would be remembered for more than that incident.

Another senior Labor MP, deputy president of the upper house and Eastern Victoria Region MP Matt Viney, will also quit politics at the 2014 election.

Mr Viney, who suffered a minor stroke last month and was not due to return to parliament until December, told Mr Andrews he wanted to put his health first.

Mr Viney and Mr Madden join their Labor colleagues Jo Duncan and Christine Campbell in deciding not to recontest their seats.

Pascoe Vale MP Ms Campbell on Wednesday said she would retire after 17 years of service while Ms Duncan, the member for the marginal seat of Macedon, announced her decision on November 4.

Opting out of public life after more than 20 years in politics, former Labor minister Tim Holding quit on February 15 this year, while former minister Bronwyn Pike retired on May 7 last year.

Former Victorian premier John Brumby quit politics in 2010, one month after he lost the state election to Ted Baillieu.

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NSW DPP to appeal Loveridge sentence

THE NSW Director of Public Prosecutions will appeal the sentence handed to Kieran Loveridge for the death of Thomas Kelly, on the grounds that it is manifestly inadequate.

NSW Director of Public Prosecutions, Lloyd Babb SC, announced his decision in a statement on Thursday night.

"No further comment will be issued in relation to this matter in light of the appellate proceedings," the statement said.

In the Supreme Court on Friday, Justice Stephen Campbell gave a minimum four-year sentence to Loveridge for the manslaughter of Mr Kelly in an unprovoked attack in Sydney's Kings Cross.

Manslaughter carries a maximum 25-year term.

There was a public outcry over the sentence.

Attorney General Greg Smith announced on Tuesday that he would introduce legislation to parliament next year for a new offence, similar to Western Australia's so-called "one-punch law".

He said he would not wait for the outcome of a possible DPP appeal before taking action to reassure the community.

The offence, which would carry a maximum jail sentence of 20 years, would apply to a fatal assault, even if the person does not intend or foresee the death.

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CMC meetings need to be open: Qld premier

Campbell Newman wants the committee that oversees the corruption watchdog to hold public meetings. Source: AAP

QUEENSLAND'S opposition says a closed-door marathon meeting between the Crime and Misconduct Commission (CMC) and the parliamentary committee that oversees it reeks of a cover-up.

Acting CMC chair Ken Levy appeared before the bipartisan Parliamentary Crime and Misconduct Committee (PCMC) for more than 12 hours on Wednesday.

He was called in to explain why he wrongly said there had been no contact with the government before he wrote an opinion piece supporting the government's anti-bikie laws last month.

He later admitted the head of the government's media unit, Lee Anderson, had called the CMC before the article was published.

Dr Levy says he wasn't manipulated or influenced by the government, and the media contact on the new laws was of his own making.

The opposition wants Dr Levy and Mr Anderson to stand down, and believes the CMC's impartiality has been compromised.

Opposition leader Annastacia Palaszczuk will write to PCMC chair, independent MP Liz Cunningham, asking her to release the transcript and agree to hold future meetings in public.

Under current rules, members of the committee are banned from discussing deliberations.

"We have had a cloud of secrecy," Ms Palaszczuk said.

"It reeks of a cover-up.

"They sat for over 12 hours - obviously something is going down.

Premier Campbell Newman doesn't know why the media and public were locked out and he, too, wants more transparency.

"As a default, they should be open hearings," Mr Newman said.

When asked if he trusted the committee was being sincere and apolitical, Mr Newman replied: "Now you're trying to provoke me."

"I'm afraid the whole thing reeks of politics.

"I wish they could leave the politics at the door, I hope they can do that.

"Right now we need to get behind the CMC."

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Pollie Pedal expenses legitimate: Abbott

PRIME Minister Tony Abbott has again defended claiming a travel allowance from taxpayers for a charity bike ride.

Over the past few years, he has claimed thousands of dollars in allowances for overnight accommodation and flights for the time he's participated in the Pollie Pedal fundraising bike ride through regional areas.

On Tuesday, he said it was a "perfectly legitimate form of engagement with the community".

Asked whether the Pollie Pedal organisers had provided accommodation and food, he said that was not correct.

"As part of the ride fee you got, I think, muesli bars and I think you might have got a bowl of Corn Flakes or Weetbix at the start of the day," he told reporters in Canberra.

"I think you got access to a tent site at a caravan park."

He had always paid his own ride fee, he said.

Mr Abbott said that on occasions he had slept in the campgrounds and eaten with the other politicians taking part.

"I don't in any way apologise ... for claiming TA (travel allowance) for the Pollie Pedal because the Pollie Pedal is a perfectly legitimate form of engagement with the community," he said.

"It's precisely the kind of engagement with the community that I think politicians who are serious about representing the people of Australia should have."

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Fed govt coy on Indon people swap talks

An Indonesian government advisor says talks are under way with Canberra about a people-swap deal. Source: AAP

THE federal government hasn't ruled out a possible people-swap deal with Indonesia involving asylum seekers picked up at sea, similar to Labor's failed arrangement with Malaysia.

Prime Minister Tony Abbott declined to confirm talks were taking place, saying Australia wouldn't be engaging in negotiations with other countries through the media.

"We are, of course, talking with Indonesians, as you'd expect, about the best way of handling people who are picked up in their search and rescue zones," he told reporters in Canberra on Tuesday.

We ... honour our commitments to protect the confidences of these discussions."

Earlier in the day, Immigration Minister Scott Morrison said the federal government was not "engaged in people swaps" but also did not rule out a potential deal.

But overnight on Tuesday, Dewi Fortuna Anwar, adviser to Indonesian Vice-President Boediono, flagged discussions were underway and said Australia would bear any costs.

The proposal appears to revolve around Australia taking people in Indonesian detention centres in return for Indonesia accepting asylum seekers on boats intercepted at sea in its search and rescue zones.

This would be similar to Labor's failed people-swap deal with Malaysia, which involved asylum seeker boat arrivals being swapped for processed refugees in Malaysia. It was subsequently deemed unlawful by the High Court.

Late last week there was a 24-hour stand-off over a boat carrying more than 50 asylum seekers intercepted by Australian authorities off the coast of Java.

Indonesia declined requests for the passengers to be taken ashore and the boat remained at sea under the watch of the Australian navy before the government transferred them to Christmas Island.

The coalition government continues to argue Indonesia had an obligation to accept the asylum seekers because the boat was in its search and rescue zone and Indonesia was the closest port.

"We will not shirk our duties and our obligations when it comes to life at sea," Mr Abbott said.

"As things stand we have had a stronger naval and customs presence in much of their search and rescue zone than they have themselves."

University of Sydney international law expert Tim Stephens told AAP the 1974 Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea and the 1979 Convention on Maritime Search and Rescue say rescued passengers must be taken to safety but doesn't specify which jurisdiction should accept them.

A 2004 bilateral agreement between Australia and Indonesia on sea rescues also doesn't specify which country should accept rescued asylum seekers, he added.

Associate Professor Stephens said there was an independent umpire - a tribunal based in Hamburg Germany - which can hear such maritime disputes.

However he believed it more likely future incidents would be settled behind the scenes.

Opposition leader Bill Shorten says the government needs to come clean on any secret people swap discussions, especially as the coalition opposed Labor's Malaysia plan.

"We've got a senior adviser to the Indonesian government ... contradicting Immigration Minister Scott Morrison's version of events. What on earth is going on with the boats policy," he asked.

Australia Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young said the development smacked of desperation.

"This is trading in human lives," she said.

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