Tough budget decisions coming: Abbott

PM Tony Abbott has warned that "tough decisions" are coming to restore the federal budget. Source: AAP

PRIME Minister Tony Abbott has warned that "tough decisions" are coming to restore the federal budget.

In the last parliamentary sitting day before Treasurer Joe Hockey brings down his first budget on May 13, Mr Abbott said of all the government's commitments, the most fundamental was to restore the budget.

"Tough decisions are coming," he told parliament.

"They are necessary for the prosperity of our country."

Shadow treasurer Chris Bowen asked Mr Hockey why, if he is concerned about the budget, did he double the deficit and add $68 billion of new spending, and change economic assumptions to his mid-year review in December.

Mr Hockey described this as "great fiction" which came from a party with a record of $190 billion of deficits in five years.

"The legacy of Labor is that over the next 10 years there is no surplus, there is no repayment of debt," he said.

"The Labor party legacy of debt and deficit wasn't just for the period they were in government, it is for as far as you can see in the years ahead."

He said the government plans were very clear, and entirely consistent in dealing with what were changing economic circumstances over the last few decades.

"We said government cannot afford to waste taxpayers' money," he said.

He said the pink batts program was a terrible waste of money and cost lives; GP super clinics were medical facilities that did not treat any patients; and the NBN was a litany of waste and incompetence.

"We are going to fix the mess," he said.

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Labor no confidence bid on Speaker fails

Shadow attorney-general Mark Dreyfus has been banned from parliament for 24 hours. Source: AAP

SPEAKER Bronwyn Bishop has fended off a no-confidence motion after attracting Labor's ire for banning a frontbencher for 24 hours.

Shadow attorney-general Mark Dreyfus was punted from the chamber on Thursday - the final day of parliament before the six-week pre-budget break - after he called out "Madam Speaker" in an exasperated tone over a ruling relating to the prime minister.

The government voted to suspend Mr Dreyfus from parliament for 24 hours after the Speaker "named" him.

The incident riled the Labor opposition, which has become increasingly frustrated over Mrs Bishop's perceived bias in her question time rulings.

Manager of opposition business Tony Burke used the wording of a successful 1949 no-confidence motion in Deputy Speaker Clark, in which he was described as showing "serious partiality" and "constantly fails to interpret correctly the standing orders of the House".

Among her sins had been throwing out a Labor MP for laughing, ejecting 98 Labor members and not one coalition MP, allowing name-calling and ignoring time limits on answers from ministers.

Mr Burke said Mrs Bishop, who has been in parliament for 27 years, was respected as a formidable MP who could launch "scathing and effective attacks".

"But we cannot support you continuing to behave that way when you want to sit in the Speaker's chair," he said.

House leader Christopher Pyne defended Mrs Bishop, saying Mr Burke clearly had been working up to the motion since the 44th parliament began.

"The fact that this is a stunt ... is so clearly indicated by the fact the manager of opposition business came into the chamber with a prepared speech," he said.

Mr Pyne said Tony Abbott had been criticised in the previous parliament by Labor for having "trouble with strong women" - such as Julia Gillard and then-speaker Anna Burke - but Mr Dreyfus had made a habit of bullying Mrs Bishop.

He accused Labor of being rude, aggressive and "behaving quite intolerably badly towards a woman in the chair".

Independent MPs Andrew Wilkie and Cathy McGowan supported the government in fending off the suspension motion, while Greens MP Adam Bandt sided with Labor.

A spokesman for Mrs Bishop told AAP she remained confident of her position and took heart at the vote from the two independents as well as phone calls of support after the debate.

On her return to the office she had a cup of tea, followed by a meeting with the Solomon Islands high commissioner and the French ambassador.

Mr Abbott, who this week marked 20 years in parliament, told reporters he had faced tough decisions by Speakers but MPs had to cop it.

"I was ejected back in 2000 when I called the then leader of the opposition Mr Beazley a sanctimonious windbag," he said.

"I happen to have a much higher opinion of Mr Beazley now that he's our ambassador in Washington."

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Cape York plan lacks consultation: mayors

SOME indigenous mayors say they've been left out of talks about the future of Queensland's Cape York.

Three mayors have joined a chorus of traditional owners who say officials haven't consulted their communities on the draft Cape York Regional Plan, which maps out future land use for the peninsula.

All three mayors sit on the planning committee for the draft plan which was released in November.

"We didn't put in a submission because it's something nobody can stop," Hope Vale Mayor Greg McLean told AAP.

"It's something the state is going to push like everything else."

Mr McLean claims the government has only spoken with a select few, none of whom are indigenous.

The government has said the plan will develop Cape York by bringing more jobs and cash to the region, but green groups have argued it would open up vast pristine areas to development.

Aurukun Mayor Dereck Walpo said he's yet to properly read the plan and he'd like to see the Tuesday deadline for submissions extended.

"The people who put this plan together should explain it a bit more in detail because they haven't come and visited us about it," he said.

Wujal Wujal Mayor Clifford Harrigan was happy with the blueprint, but was disappointed no one had visited his shire to discuss it.

"It's just like any other plan they want to put up through Cape York - there's been no on ground consultation," he said.

Cook Shire Mayor Peter Scott, whose council covers 80 per cent of the cape, was pleased with the level of consultation, but said the draft lacked detail.

Deputy Premier Jeff Seeney says extensive consultation has already taken place and the submissions deadline would not be extended.

Officials from his department have visited the cape 35 times and Mr Seeney himself has held five meetings across the region.

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Qld doctors launch TV blitz over contracts

QUEENSLAND doctors will use a TV advertising blitz to muster public support for their bitter dispute with the government over work contracts.

Two 15-second ads will run on commercial television stations for two weeks from Wednesday evening.

They feature a heart monitor that flatlines and warns all Queenslanders will suffer if the state's 3500 senior medical officers, who work in the public system, are forced onto individual contracts.

The ads, authorised by the Australian Salaried Medical Officers Federation, are in part a response to print ads taken out by the government on Sunday.

Keep our Doctors spokeswoman Kate Flanders said it was disappointing to see the government using taxpayers money to spread untruths about the dispute.

She said it was not about money, but real concerns about fair work conditions for doctors and patient care.

Ms Flanders said that under the new contracts, doctors would have to consider the health system's profitability in the course of their work.

There are also enduring concerns about doctors' job security.

"Patients are at the heart of this," Ms Flanders told AAP.

"It may not be popular with the hospital administration that they may be trying an experimental treatment, or keeping people in for longer, or doing different procedures than what they usually do."

Health Minister Lawrence Springborg wants the contracts signed by April 30 and has made concessions in a bid to win over doctors.

But doctors rejected the amended contracts, saying they failed to resolve key issues.

More than 1000 of them voted at a Brisbane meeting last week against signing the contracts and again threatened to quit en masse.

Comment had been sought from Mr Springborg.

The government decided to put senior and visitor medical officers on individual contracts after two Auditor-General reports found the current system was open to rorting.

Health Minister Lawrence Springborg flat out rejected Ms Flanders' assertion that doctors would have to be concerned about budgets when treating patients.

He condemned the ASMOF and the Together Union for their role in the ads, and urged the public to look at what's on offer rather than listen to a scare campaign.

"They are playing on people's fear and emotion and don't care about the consequences, but we do," Mr Springborg told AAP.

"It is part of a broader Labor campaign to unsettle the government, to create disruption.

"Unions are never really solutions based, they have a vested interest in creating concern and alarm, the more they create the more membership they can recruit and that gives them financial advantage."

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Parcel bomb seriously injures Qld man

A MAN has been seriously injured after he opened a suspected parcel bomb in southeastern Queensland.

Police say the parcel exploded in the man's arms, seriously injuring his upper body, at his home on Owen St, Dalby, about 2.45pm (AEST) on Tuesday.

Police have set up a 50 metre exclusion zone around the man's house and nearby streets have been closed.

Officers are investigating.

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Good and bad news in jobs survey

MORE Australian employers are planning to retrench staff in the next three months.

A survey of 2,887 Australian employers found 12.1 per cent are planning to swing the axe in the three months to the end of June, compared to 11.2 per cent in the previous quarterly forecast.

The survey, carried out by global recruitment firm Hudson, showed the industry most likely to shed jobs is resources, with 20.9 per cent of respondents planning to reduce staff numbers, an increase of 9.5 percentage points from three months earlier.

The numbers illustrate the Australian economy's shift away from being dominated by mining, executive general manager of Hudson Australia Dean Davidson said.

But sentiment is still cautious in the labour market, he said.

"The move to a more balanced economy isn't painless, and we've seen some organisations hurt while they go through the business transformation process to equip themselves for success in today's tougher operational environment," Mr Davidson said.

The survey also showed 23.3 per cent of employers intend to hire new staff, while the majority have no plans to change employee numbers.

NSW has the nation's strongest employment outlook, with 27.9 per cent saying they'll employ new staff.

The next best states were South Australia (24.7 per cent), Queensland (22.5 per cent) and Victoria (21.7 per cent).

Mr Davidson said an improved hiring outlook in NSW was a good sign for the rest of the country, because the state is not reliant on mining.

The information technology, financial and professional services sectors were driving NSW's hiring expectations, he said.

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AGL to fight rejected NSW power buy

AGL Energy will fight an ACCC decision to block its planned takeover of two NSW power stations. Source: AAP

AGL Energy will fight a decision by the competition watchdog to block its planned $1.5 billion takeover of two NSW government owned power stations.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has opposed AGL Energy's takeover of the power stations, saying it would substantially lessen competition in the electricity market.

ACCC chairman Rod Sims has said the acquisition would mean up to 80 per cent of the state's energy generation would be controlled by three companies: AGL, Origin and EnergyAustralia.

Macquarie Generation accounts for just over a quarter of NSW's energy production.

AGL managing director Michael Fraser said the ACCC's decision had significant implications for the future of the energy industry and could not be left unchallenged.

The company has lodged an application with the Australian Competition Tribunal for authorisation to buy Macquarie Generation.

"We have decided to seek to have the matter heard by the tribunal rather than the Federal Court because the legislated time frame for decision making by the tribunal is shorter than the time it would normally take the court to consider a matter of this nature," Mr Fraser said in a statement.

The independent tribunal has a three month period to consider the application, and this period may be extended by a further three months.

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Sinodinos warned over 'company he kept'

FORMER NSW Premier Nathan Rees thought they were a "bunch of crooks" and Liberal powerbroker Arthur Sinodinos was warned the men running Australian Water Holdings might be "dishonest", a corruption inquiry has heard.

And that was before anyone knew the Obeids might be involved.

The Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) is probing claims the infrastructure company charged state-owned Sydney Water for hundreds of thousands of dollars in administration fees including limousine rides and Liberal Party donations.

It has also been alleged the family of former NSW Labor minister Eddie Obeid had a secret 30 per cent holding in Australian Water Holdings (AWH).

Senator Sinodinos became an AWH director in 2008 and was later appointed chairman.

Counsel assisting, Geoffrey Watson SC, has told the inquiry that Senator Sinodinos, who is due to give evidence to the ICAC next week, was paid $200,000 plus bonuses for about 100 hours' worth of work as an AWH director.

Shortly after he was made chairman of the company, he met with Sydney Water's then-managing director Kerry Schott and another public servant, the ICAC heard.

"We suggested to Mr Sinodinos he might be careful about the company he was keeping," Dr Schott said.

"We thought that they may be dishonest ... There was no reaction to that."

Senator Sinodinos last week stepped down as federal assistant treasurer pending the outcome of the ICAC investigation.

Dr Schott told the commission that Sydney Water's relationship with AWH became fraught as she sought justification for the expenses AWH submitted to Sydney Water for reimbursement.

Mr Rees "used to refer to them as a bunch of crooks", she said.

"As it went on and on and on I became more suspicious about the nature of the company I was dealing with," Dr Schott said.

It has been alleged that Mr Obeid tried to have her fired, urging then-water minister Phillip Costa to "sack the bitch".

Dr Schott has also given evidence that she believes a NSW government cabinet minute submitted to then-infrastructure minister Tony Kelly's office was redrafted with the help of AWH executive Nick Di Girolamo.

Mr Watson has told the ICAC the original cabinet minute recommended the rejection of a public-private partnership that would have netted a "massive windfall profit" of up to $200 million for AWH owners.

But the cabinet minute that was submitted to cabinet was a "doctored" document reversing the original recommendation, Mr Watson said, though this document was ultimately withdrawn.

Dr Schott on Monday agreed that rewriting the cabinet minute in that way would be tantamount to fraud.

"I think it was a terrible abuse of public process," she said.

The inquiry continues.

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