PM stands by election schools promise

PM Tony Abbott has denied the government is breaking its pre-election schools funding promise. Source: AAP

PRIME Minister Tony Abbott insists the government will keep the promise it made on school funding before the election - not the promise some people think it made.

But the Opposition's education spokeswoman Kate Ellis says that's just "clever words".

And she hasn't ruled out backing any industrial action by teachers angry at the coalition reneging on school funding deals struck between the former Labor government and a majority of the states and territories.

Before the September election, the coalition said schools would receive the same amount of funding as under the so-called Gonski model.

"We are going to keep the promise that we made, not the promise that some people thought we made or the promise that some people would like us to make. We are going to keep the promise that we actually made," Mr Abbott told Network Ten on Sunday.

The prime minister refused to repeat the promise word for word, but said schools will get "the same quantum of funding over the four years that they would have under Labor".

The coalition will fund schools as planned for 2014 before introducing a new scheme from 2015, which Education Minister Christopher Pyne is trying to nut out with state and territory counterparts.

Labor says the coalition is making excuses.

"The government is clearly determined to break their word - that's what's happening," Labor senator Penny Wong told ABC TV.

"They aren't the government they said they'd be before the election."

Ms Ellis says there's no way the government can justify its move.

"A promise is a promise," she told Network Ten.

"They were very specific in their words before the election ... a promise they have now walked away from."

Ms Ellis said teachers and parents across Australia had a right to be angry about the government's decision and didn't rule out backing industrial action.

"I would certainly support ... us fighting to make sure these huge and important reforms are not tossed aside," she said.

State and territory leaders will get the chance to eyeball the prime minister about school funding at a Council of Australian Governments (COAG) meeting on December 13.

"It will absolutely be an agenda item," Tasmanian Premier Lara Giddings said on Sunday.

"This Gonski reform is one of the top issues."

South Australian Premier Jay Weatherill, who faces a state election in 2014, said the school funding issue may filter through to be an influencing factor.

"(The government) know that they can't be seen to break a promise so that's why they're pretending that they haven't broken a promise," Mr Weatherill said.

The Australian Education Union accused the prime minister of spinning a line on school funding.

"No school worse off over four years, promised Tony Abbott," Union deputy president Correna Haythorpe said in a statement.

"It's an insult to parents and teachers to hear the prime minister now say that this clear, unambiguous commitment from the Coalition is something 'some people' thought he said, or 'some people' would like him to have said."

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Political violence shakes Thai capital

One protester has been killed after an attack on a bus carrying government's supporters in Bangkok. Source: AAP

THAI police fired tear gas and a water cannon at protesters trying to force their way into Government House to overthrow Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, after violence in the capital left two dead and dozens wounded.

The bloodshed is the latest in a series of outbreaks of civil strife in the kingdom since royalist generals ousted billionaire tycoon-turned-premier Thaksin Shinawatra, Yingluck's brother, seven years ago.

The mass street rallies, aimed at replacing Yingluck's government with an unelected "people's council", are the biggest since political violence in Bangkok three years ago left dozens dead in a military crackdown.

Protesters were amassing outside Government House on Sunday following a threat by their leader to seize the offices of Yingluck, who was overseeing the situation from an emergency base elsewhere in the city.

Police acted after protesters tried to breach barricades and cut barbed wire protecting the seat of government, which was heavily guarded by security forces including unarmed soldiers, according to an AFP reporter.

Tear gas was also fired near the city's metropolitan police headquarters several kilometres away where demonstrators were also gathering, television footage showed.

Tensions were high after violence broke out late Saturday in the area around a suburban stadium where tens of thousands of pro-government "Red Shirts" had gathered in support of Yingluck, who has faced weeks of street protests.

The circumstances surrounding the deaths were unclear but the violence came after an anti-government mob attacked Red Shirts arriving to join the rally in Ramkhamhaeng district.

"The confirmed toll is now two dead and 45 injured," an official at the city's Erawan emergency centre told AFP, amid reports of sporadic outbreaks of violence near the stadium on Sunday morning.

They were the first deaths since the mostly peaceful demonstrations began a month ago. Both sides blamed each other for attacking their supporters.

The violence prompted Red Shirt leaders to end their rally, which had drawn tens of thousands of mainly rural poor in support of Yingluck and her brother Thaksin, who lives in self-imposed exile but remains a hugely divisive figure in Thailand.

"In order to avoid further complicating the situation for the government, we have decided to let people return home," Red Shirt leader Thida Thavornseth told the crowd.

Authorities are deploying more than 2,700 troops to reinforce security in Bangkok, the first time a significant number of soldiers have been deployed to cope with the unrest.

Protests were triggered by an amnesty bill, since abandoned by the ruling party, that opponents feared would have allowed the return of fugitive former premier Thaksin, whose overthrow by royalist generals in 2006 unleashed years of political turmoil.

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Stabbed woman hails cab to NSW hospital

A NSW woman somehow waved down a cab to get to hospital after suffering critical stab wounds. Source: AAP

A NSW woman mustered the strength to wave down a cab to rush herself to hospital after suffering critical stab wounds.

Police say a 42-year-old woman waved down a taxi driver on Villiers Street in South Grafton at 11.40pm (AEDT) on Friday and asked for help, saying she had been stabbed.

A man who had been standing next to the woman fled while the taxi driver took her to Grafton Hospital, where she underwent emergency surgery for stab wounds to her stomach, upper chest area and neck.

Police believe the stabbing was related to a domestic incident and apprehended a 55-year-old man as he returned to a Villiers Street home in the early hours of Saturday.

He was taken to Grafton Police Station and charged with causing grievous bodily harm with intent to murder.

He will appear in court at a later date.

The woman remains in hospital in a critical but stable condition.

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Police charge would-be carjacker

A MAN who allegedly tried to carjack a BMW in central Sydney before hitting a bouncer outside a bar has been charged.

In the early hours of Saturday the 39-year-old allegedly pushed the driver of a BMW, parked on the corner of Sussex and Slips streets, into the passenger seat and tried to start the car, police say.

Security guards from a nearby hotel pulled the would-be carjacker from the BMW but he ran off to a bar on Lime Street.

Leaving the venue, the man allegedly assaulted a bouncer in what police say was an "unprovoked attack."

He tried to run again but was chased by doorman's colleagues, caught and restrained.

Police took the man, who had suffered a head injury, to St Vincent's Hospital.

He was released on Saturday afternoon and charged with carjacking, assault occasioning actual bodily harm and common assault.

Bail was granted and he's due before Central Local Court on Monday.

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Nhulunbuy rocked by Rio Tinto closure

AFTER a long, slow, downward slide, Rio Tinto will close its Gove alumina refinery, taking with it some 1500 jobs and, perhaps, the soul of the town.

Rio Tinto on Friday announced what many had feared for the past year: that the refinery is no longer a viable business in the current market.

The company is not saying how many jobs will be lost as it works on the scope and phased timing of the suspension.

About 1500 workers are employed at the Gove refinery, while 350 people work at the bauxite operations, which will continue.

Rio chief executive Sam Walsh says it's an extremely difficult decision that will have a significant impact on workers and the Northern Territory as a whole.

"There is no doubt it is a challenging path ahead," he said.

The refinery has been losing money for years due to long-depressed global aluminium prices and over-supply.

Both the federal and territory governments offered subsidised gas to Rio and to take on the financial risk of a gas pipeline to prevent Friday's decision.

"I want the people of Gove to know that my government and I fought until the end to keep the refinery open, but Rio Tinto has disappointingly decided that the economics of the business no longer stack up," NT Chief Minister Adam Giles said in a statement on Friday.

"I know this is a dark day for the people of Gove, but ... we will be working with Rio Tinto in supporting the community over the difficult months ahead."

He held a panel meeting that included Rio management at Nhulunbuy's town hall on Friday morning, as hundreds of residents crammed in to hear how the town will be salvaged.

About 4000 people live in Nhulunbuy and about 1500 work at the Gove refinery. Most of the other businesses in the area support the mining activity.

"It was as full as I've ever seen that place. People were hanging out the doors and windows," said Dean Johnson, a bore operator at Rio's bauxite mine.

"It was mainly businesspeople who've invested in the town in one way or another. Those poor people are losing out twofold, they've got families and bought houses here," he told AAP.

"There were some tears, and you could hear it breaking up in their voices. Towards the end it got a bit bitter."

Rio says key factors in the decision were continuing low alumina prices, a high exchange rate and substantial after-tax losses for the refinery despite considerable efforts to improve performance.

It said it would try to create new opportunities for employees, which could involve fly-in fly-out work in the Pilbara or on Darwin's Inpex LNG plant.

Earlier this week, the NT government was putting in place contingency plans to bail out the township, looking at whether airlines and supermarkets would abandon Nhulunbuy, how many schoolchildren would remain, demands on the hospital and impacts on homeowners with home loans.

Mr Giles said Rio would continue to provide power, water and sewerage and, along with the government, was seeking assurances from airlines that they would continue to service the area.

The government will continue to provide key public services such as hospitals, schools and police.

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Fmr Qld MP's wife charged with fraud

THE wife of a disgraced former Queensland MP has been charged with fraud.

Police charged former Redcliffe MP Scott Driscoll's wife Emma after a joint investigation with the state's corruption watchdog.

The investigation was looking into allegations that Norsefire, a company in which she had a controlling interest, received $522,266 from a lobby group and a community association her husband controlled while he was an MP.

The Driscolls' joint bank account allegedly received payments totalling $215,670 from Norsefire that were not declared on his official interests register.

Mr Driscoll resigned from parliament earlier this month over the allegations before he could be expelled and fined $90,000.

Emma Driscoll is facing three counts of perjury, 10 counts of fraudulently falsifying records and three counts of falsifying documents.

She is due to appear in Brisbane Magistrates Court on December 10.

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Set record straight on China, Abbott told

THE federal government is being advised to address growing mistrust over China if it wants to sign a free-trade agreement (FTA) with the Asian powerhouse within a year.

Trade Minister Andrew Robb has just returned from East Asia, where he met with Chinese officials to discuss progress on the long-sought FTA.

Securing an FTA with Australia's largest trading partner has been on the agenda since the Howard years and the present government has fast-tracked talks and wants a deal done within 12 months.

But China's expansion is fostering suspicion in Australia, with concerns it could use its significant economic influence to steer negotiations in its favour.

The Lowy Institute think tank has warned sentiments toward China has "cooled" in the past year and the government needs to be on the front foot if it wants public support for the elusive FTA.

The institute's James Reilly says fears China's government will manipulate its trade and investment to undermine Australian autonomy or security are "overblown".

"Both sides need to do a better job of explaining this reality to the Australian public," he wrote in a report called China's Economic Statecraft: Turning Wealth Into Power.

"The Abbott government will also have to pay more attention to public sentiments at home if it wishes to get a trade deal with China within the year."

A good place to start would be dispelling concerns about Chinese investment in Australia, which makes up just three per cent of all foreign direct investment.

In a survey conducted this year, the institute found that despite this, 57 per cent of Australians believed the government was allowing too much investment from China.

A sizeable minority of those surveyed also saw China as a potential military threat in coming decades.

China's use of economic statecraft - using economic clout to further its foreign policy objectives - would hit a wall if tried on Australia, the report said.

One fear is China could pressure the government over its military co-operation with the United States, or engagement with Taiwan, by holding hostage primary Australian exports - like iron ore.

But the report claims Australia enjoys "considerable economic leverage over China", and while economic statecraft posed challenges, it was no excuse for opposing deeper ties.

Mr Robb said China was "very enthusiastic" about the FTA proposal and he was hopeful a deal would be signed within the 12-month deadline.

"Where there's a political will, there's a way," he told ABC TV on Wednesday.

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WA man could face more child abuse charges

A PERTH man facing child abuse charges against two boys could face further charges from a third alleged victim.

Neville Ross Mader has been charged with 11 offences including aggravated sexual assault, aggravated indecent assault, sexual penetration of a juvenile male and sexual penetration without consent.

Mader appeared briefly in the Perth Magistrates Court on Wednesday and had his bail renewed.

The court also heard there could be further charges laid against him from a third complainant.

Mader is due back in court in January.

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Letter from Abbott met Indon expectations

The government says Indonesia is taking time to respond to the PM's letter about the spying scandal. Source: AAP

INDONESIA says a letter from Prime Minister Tony Abbott in response to demands for an explanation over the tapping of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's phone is in accordance with expectations.

Dr Yudhoyono was on Tuesday set to hold a high-level meeting with some of his closest advisers and senior ministers to discuss a response to the letter from Mr Abbott, which was received on Saturday.

While the contents of the letter have not been revealed, a spokesman for the president said it was "just as we expected".

"I do not have the capacity to give details about the content of Prime Minister Abbott's letter," presidential spokesman Julian Pasha said at the presidential palace ahead of the talks.

"The answer from Prime Minister Abbott is in accordance to what we expected. I will stop there."

He refused to say whether the letter contained an apology.

It was unclear whether Dr Yudhoyono or a spokesman for the president would provide an official response to Mr Abbott's letter immediately following the meeting.

Indonesia has suspended all co-operation with Australia in terms of strategic partnerships as a result of the spying claims, including in combating people smuggling, intelligence gathering and anti-terrorism efforts.

Labor said earlier on Tuesday that it was worrying there had been no response from Indonesia since Mr Abbott took steps to mend ties between the nations.

But Parliamentary Secretary Simon Birmingham has played down concerns Indonesia hadn't responded yet to the letter.

"We'd expect Indonesia to take their time, and respond thoughtfully. That's obviously what's occurring," he told Sky News on Tuesday.

Senator Birmingham said the prime minister had opted for a "hand-delivered gesture" by asking retired army chief Lieutenant-General Peter Leahy to take the letter to Indonesia personally.

A spokesman for Mr Abbott said the prime minister "felt it was appropriate that his letter was conveyed with the utmost respect befitting the importance of the subject matter and his high regard for President Yudhoyono".

But Labor frontbencher Brendan O'Connor said it wasn't important how the message was sent as long as every effort was made to repair the relationship.

He said if all was well, the Indonesian president would be on the phone to Mr Abbott.

"The fact that it's taken so long for Indonesia to respond is of some concern," he told Sky News.

"Clearly they are disappointed with the government's response to date."

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Tiger mauls trainer at Qld zoo

A TRAINER is in a serious but stable condition in hospital after being mauled by a tiger at a Queensland zoo.

The big cat attacked the 30-year-old man during a tiger show for visitors at the Australia Zoo in Beerwah on Tuesday afternoon.

The tiger reportedly bit into his neck before a group of co-workers nearby realised what was going on and helped drag him away.

The Department of Community Safety says the trainer was bleeding heavily from two large puncture wounds on his neck when ambulance officers arrived about 3pm (AEST).

Paramedics managed to stop the bleeding and the man was then flown to a Brisbane hospital in a serious, but stable condition.

DCS says he was conscious and breathing when he was loaded into the helicopter.

The Australia Zoo keeps three Bengal and eight Sumatran tigers.

The zoo has not returned calls since the news broke.

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Mother and son admit helping cop killer

THE girlfriend of convicted cop murderer Michael Allan Jacobs and her son have pleaded guilty to perverting the course of justice during the investigation into the death of Senior Constable David Rixon.

Last month, Jacobs, 49, became the first person in NSW to receive a mandatory life sentence for murdering a police officer.

A jury took less than an hour to find Jacobs guilty of murdering Sen Const Rixon after he was pulled over for a random breath test at West Tamworth on March 2 last year.

Jacobs' girlfriend, Sharon Strudwick, 48, and her son James Strudwick, 23, were due to stand trial in the District Court in Tamworth on Monday charged with perverting the court of justice during the police investigation into Sen Const Rixon's murder.

The court previously heard Strudwick told her son to flush firearm cartridges down the toilet after Jacobs' arrest, which he did.

They both pleaded guilty to one count of perverting the course of justice on Monday.

Jacobs shot Sen Const Rixon through the chest without warning before screaming, "Die, I'm sorry. Sorry sir, sorry."

Sen Const Rixon returned fire, hitting Jacobs in the leg, abdomen and shoulder.

Sen Const Rixon died at the scene while Jacobs later underwent life-saving surgery.

He consistently denied murdering the officer and instead attempted to pin the blame on his drug dealer.

However, secretly recorded conversations between Jacobs and Sharon Strudwick were played during Jacobs' trial in which he told her, "I wish I hadn't have had the gun, wish I hadn't have got the s**ts that morning."

"Why didn't you run?" Strudwick said, before saying, "Why'd he shoot ya for the idiot?"

Jacobs later told her, "You're the keeper of my heart and my dreams".

Strudwick will face a sentence hearing next April, while her son will return to court later this month.

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Lawyers to stop baby going to Nauru

AN urgent request to stop the transfer of a newborn baby and his family to Nauru will be heard in a Brisbane court on Tuesday.

Latifar, a Rohingyan woman from Myanmar, was transferred from Nauru to give birth to Ferouz in Brisbane's Mater Hospital a fortnight ago.

They remain in detention with the child's father and siblings, Maurice Blackburn Lawyers told AAP.

Associate Murray Watt says they'll argue in the Brisbane Federal Circuit Court on Tuesday to keep the family in Australia until the child's health improves.

Ferouz remains weak, has trouble breastfeeding and his mother is recovering from a caesarean birth and suffers from diabetes.

Mr Watt says it is a test case because it concerns the rights of an asylum seeker to present independent medical advice about their health, before any decision is made to take them back to Nauru.

And, it raises questions on whether the government can take Ferouz to Nauru at all, given that he was born in Australia.

"This family of asylum seekers from Burma has already been poorly treated, with limited access to visit their newborn son, Ferouz, while he remained in hospital," Mr Watt said.

"This is an important case, not just for baby Ferouz and his family, but also in highlighting the injustice of detaining children offshore."

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