Easy access to welfare is over: Andrews

Australians who receive the disability support pension will be assessed for the capacity to work. Source: AAP

UP to 20,000 Australians who receive the disability support pension (DSP) will be assessed for the capacity to work, and if deemed able, will be expected to get a job.

In tough talk ahead of the budget, Social Services Minister Kevin Andrews also repeated warnings that the days of young Australians sitting at home on the couch collecting welfare cheques were over.

He said the government believed young people should be either be working or training for work.

"The message out of this is simply this. The days of easy welfare for young people are over. We want a fair system but we don't think it is fair that young people can just sit on the couch at home and pick up a welfare cheque. Those days are over," he told reporters in Melbourne.

Mr Andrews confirmed the budget, to be delivered on Tuesday night, will introduce rules that mean some people collecting the DSP disability support pension will be reviewed for capacity to work.

That will apply to some 10-20,000 people who had gone onto the DSP in the last 5-6 years but not yet assessed under new impairment tables.

"If they are capable of working, whether it is full-time or part-time, then our expectation is that they should be working," he said.

Mr Andrews said measures announced on Tuesday would be just the first instalment of reform.

He said former Mission Australia chief executive Patrick McClure had completed his discussion paper on welfare reforms but would review it in light of budget changes.

The review will be released for public consultation after the budget.

"I will be taking to cabinet further proposals for welfare review. This will go to the structural arrangements," Mr Andrews said.

Mr Andrews said the welfare system now comprised some 50 payments, allowances and supplements assembled ad hoc over the years.

"It is time to have a clear look at making structural change so far as welfare is concerned," he said.

Proposed changes are in line with the report of the National Commission of Audit which said the DSP was costing $15.8 billion a year.

Opposition health spokeswoman Catherine King was critical of the changes to the DSP.

"Why would you be punishing them? Why would you be punishing their income security payments and trying to restrict their access to income support whilst at the same time cutting a whole lot of benefits that support them into work," she told reporters in Melbourne.

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PM pays tribute to beef baron Graeme Acton

Australian beef baron Graeme Acton has died aged 63, after falling from a horse. Source: AAP

PRIME Minister Tony Abbott has paid tribute to Australian beef baron Graeme Acton, describing him as a great and proud man.

"He was a proud Queenslander and a great Australian," Mr Abbott said in a statement following news of Mr Acton's death on Friday in Brisbane.

"Graeme contributed so much to agriculture in our country, in particular to the cattle industry around Rockhampton where the Actons have been farming for four generations."

Mr Acton, 63, had been on life support in the Royal Brisbane Hospital after falling from a horse on May 2 while competing in a campdrafting event in central Queensland.

Queensland Premier Campbell Newman said he was shocked and saddened.

"He was an outstanding character who was much loved by all," he said in a statement.

"A hard working Queenslander, he devoted his life to the land and growing the cattle industry in this state."

Federal Agriculture Minister Barnaby Joyce said Mr Acton was a hero of the cattle industry and a fierce advocate for agriculture.

"We are truly indebted to this great Australian, for the blessing he has been as a father, husband, friend, pioneer and great captain of the agricultural industry in Australia," he said.

Just last week Mr Acton had told Mr Joyce how the government could do things better.

"His words of wisdom were not lost on me," Mr Joyce said.

"Graeme possessed a unique ability to communicate with people irrespective of their background or social standing and united tens of thousands through his love of the art form of campdrafting."

Mr Acton headed Acton Land and Cattle - one of the country's largest farming operations.

The firm owns 180,000 head of cattle on seven Queensland farms which span about 1.58 million hectares of land.

Acton Land and Cattle exports 30,000 beasts to the Middle East and Asia each year.

Mr Acton is survived by his wife Jennie and their children Tom, Hayley, Victoria and Laura.

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Vic Labor won't do link's second stage

VICTORIAN Labor says it will build only part of the East West Link if elected in November.

Shadow Treasurer Tim Pallas said the western section of the 18km cross-city road project was not part of the transport proposal Labor would take to the state election.

Labor has committed to honouring government contracts for the road link, but Mr Pallas said this didn't include the western section.

"Our view is that any contracts that are not signed, processes will not necessarily proceed," Mr Pallas said on Friday.

The government hopes to sign contracts for the $6 billion-$8 billion eastern part of the project before Victorians go to the polls. Work is expected to start at the end of the year.

The eastern section will connect the Eastern Freeway to CityLink and includes a tunnel below Royal Park.

But the western section, funded to the tune of $8 billion-$10 billion in Tuesday's state budget, will not be ready to proceed until the end of 2015.

"It won't be part of any proposal we take to the people of Victoria at the next election," Mr Pallas said of the western section.

"We have a clear agenda in respect of transport."

Labor has released plans to remove 50 level crossings in metropolitan Melbourne and build an alternative to the West Gate Bridge and West Gate Distributor.

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NSW woman wins Mother of the Year

IT was a chance meeting between two teenage cancer patients that changed everything.

Cassie Nascimento was 16 when doctors told her she had a four per cent chance of surviving brain cancer.

For the next three years her mum Gloria attended every doctor's appointment with her, driving between Wollongong and Sydney and sleeping on the floor next to Cassie's hospital bed whenever she stayed overnight.

But instead of despairing over her daughter's terminal illness, Nascimento decided to make a difference by helping Jason Carrasco who Cassie befriended in hospital in 2012.

Children's charity Barnardos on Friday recognised the 49-year-old's selfless efforts by naming her mother of the year.

She was nominated by Carrasco, who was diagnosed with testicular cancer when he was 18.

Even though her family was going through hell, Nascimento tried to help Jason and his family as much as she could.

She said supporting Carrasco while her own daughter battled cancer had helped her stay positive.

"I love him like a son, he calls me his second mum," Nascimento said.

Carrasco survived cancer but Cassie died in November last year.

"She would be so proud of you right now," he told Gloria.

The teen said he's not sure what his family would have done if the 49-year-old hadn't come to their aid.

"We all need someone in times of adversity," he said.

"Gloria was by my side to give me a hug, to make me cupcakes. Thank you for everything."

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Qld hospital evacuated after small fire

PATIENTS and staff were taken from a hospital ward southwest of Brisbane after a small fire started in an X-ray room.

An electrical fault at Ipswich Hospital is understood to have started shortly before 3pm on Wednesday.

A smell of smoke in an electrical panel sparked the evacuation, a hospital spokeswoman said.

"There were no acutely ill patients involved," she told AAP.

Police inspector Michelle Stenner said a small fire in the medical imaging room, which handles X-rays and ultrasounds, caused the small fire on the fourth floor.

"That fire was contained," she told ABC News.

"The electrician attended and made that situation safe."

No one was injured during the fire or evacuation.

Firefighters attended the scene.

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Port privatisations hurt economy: Asciano

THE head of ports and rail operator Asciano fears the high-priced privatisation of Australia's ports is damaging the economy.

The short-term benefits to public coffers of realising massive prices by selling public assets could ultimately hurt people more, chief executive John Mullen says.

That happened when the consortiums that bought ports ensured returns by charging high rents to port operators such as Asciano, whose rental costs had jumped 350 per cent at one port.

Asciano and its competitors then pass costs on to importer and exporter customers.

But Mr Mullen says that then risks damaging competitiveness and causing higher costs to consumers.

"It starts to become a tax on trade," he told an American Chamber of Commerce lunch in Melbourne on Wednesday.

"Governments just want to get a fantastic price for it and use those funds to develop other things in the state and there is nothing wrong with that.

"But if the owner has to put prices up to try get a return, ultimately the consumer or manufacturers or exporters are paying that bill and it is probably not good for Australia in the long run."

Mr Mullen said he supported privatising freight and infrastructure assets but only if it improved Australia's productivity and way of life.

Control mechanisms on pricing should be inserted in the sales process, he said.

The NSW government received $5.07 billion for the sale of Port Botany and Port Kembla last year.

It will also reap more than $1 billion for Newcastle port's sale, while the Victorian government plans to private the Port of Melbourne.

There would always be a need for visionary, nation building investment from government even when it took years for the economic returns to come, Mr Mullen said.

Mr Mullen also called for a greater investment in rail infrastructure including a "nation building" inland rail track between Melbourne and Brisbane.

More than 95 per cent of total freight moved between Melbourne and Sydney was by road - the most intensive in the world - but rail could achieve the most economically efficient movement of goods, reduced congestion and helped the environment, he said.

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Two tourists saved from swollen WA creek

TWO European tourists have been rescued from a flood-swollen creek in Western Australia after activating a personal locator beacon.

The beacon was activated by the pair at 10.50am (WST) on Tuesday, the Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) said.

Police travelled to the creek, about 70km southeast of Karratha, but could not drive through the water to rescue the pair, whose car was submerged.

A Karratha-based helicopter took the uninjured tourists to Roebourne.

AMSA urges people travelling in remote areas to carry satellite phones and a personal locator beacon in the case of an emergency.

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Tax office takes up laundering

TAXPAYERS will foot the bill for washing machines, a tumble dryer and sandwich makers for the Australian Tax Office.

A tender closes this week for whitegoods to go into ATO offices around the country over the next four years.

Among the items being sought are two washing machines and washing powder, a tumble dryer, triple-door glass-fronted fridges, 354 bar fridges, 32 pie ovens and 454 sandwich presses.

The tender documents state the items will meet the ATO's "business requirements" and ensure that "breakout areas, communal spaces and beverage points are equipped with quality whitegoods".

The ATO is seeking one national contractor to supply, deliver, install, maintain and replace the goods to all of its sites, including new buildings and refurbished offices.

It also requires the "bulk supply of consumables" such as dishwasher tablets and washing powder.

Among the objectives of the tender, according to the documents, is to "represent value for money" and provide a "healthy and safe working environment".

Comment is being sought from the tax office.

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Westpac shares down despite record profit

Westpac has announced a first half cash profit of $3.77 billion and has lifted its interim dividend. Source: AAP

SHARES in Westpac are flat in early trading after the bank revealed a record first half cash profit of $3.77 billion.

Australia's second-largest and oldest bank opened higher before pulling back - just as ANZ did after its record profit was announced on Thursday.

Westpac shares were seven cents down at $34.80 at 1025 AEST on Monday.

ANZ shares were down again on Monday while rivals Commonwealth and NAB had made gains.

Westpac's shares had been predicted to fall given the record run in bank shares of late with many investors regarding them as being full-valued.

Westpac's cash profit - the bank's preferred performance measure - was up eight per cent from the prior corresponding period, beating analysts' expectations.

Net profit for the six months to March 31 was $3.62 billion, up from $3.29 billion a year ago.

Westpac lifted its fully-franked interim dividend to 90 cents, from the previous 86 cents.

However, unlike the two previous half years, no 10 cent special dividend will be paid on top of the distribution this time as some had expected.

The bank followed ANZ's lead last week in posting a decline in margins due to high competition for mortgage customers.

Westpac had been expected to increase net interest margins - the difference between its funding and lending costs - but it declined eight basis points to 2.11 per cent.

The bank still increased housing loans by five per cent. It already has Australia's second largest share of housing loans, behind Commonwealth Bank.

Westpac chief executive Gail Kelly said that the world economy had improved in recent times with Europe pulling out of recession and the US slowly moving towards trend growth.

Mrs Kelly said that she was positive about the second half for the bank.

The bank's tier capital adequacy ratio of 8.82 per cent - equity capital versus total risk-weighted assets - is the best of the big four banks.

"Our focus on tilting to growth is delivering, and this is expected to continue into the second half of the year," she said.

IG market strategist Evan Lucas said the profit result was stellar but, digging deeper, the result looked benign with institutional banking's earnings going backwards - an area in which the other major banks have increased.

"At the moment, the banks are really easy to poke holes in because they are so fully (share price) valued," he told AAP. He predicted a repeat of ANZ, with a possible fall in its share price on Monday despite a record profit.

"(The profit) comes down to their consolidation rather than growth story ... they are eking out profits that way."

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Vic govt to unveil infrastructure spend

Tuesday's Victorian state budget is expected to contain a number of major infrastructure projects. Source: AAP

MELBOURNE'S East West Link tunnel will get more funding and light will be shed on plans for a Melbourne airport rail link in Tuesday's state budget.

Victoria is expected to remain in the black with the state on track to reach its net surplus target in a budget that will focus on major infrastructure projects six months out from an election.

State funds will flow for the second stage of the $18 billion East West Link road project, including $1.5 billion from the Commonwealth, while details of a plan to link Melbourne's CBD by rail to the Tullamarine airport will be unveiled for the first time.

Treasurer Michael O'Brien says that in contrast to the federal budget, which is expected to include significant spending cuts and possible tax increases to cut the deficit, Victorians can expect strong surpluses over the next few years.

Net debt will also fall over the forward estimates and there will be a focus on major infrastructure projects which create jobs, he says.

"The Victorian budget is in a very different position to the federal budget," Mr O'Brien told reporters on Friday.

"We're in surplus here in Victoria and we're going to have strong surpluses across the forward estimates."

Mr O'Brien says the government will be delivering the major infrastructure projects Victorians want to see to improve their quality of life, thanks to good economic management.

"We're funding major job creating infrastructure through strong surpluses, through good economic management and through asset recycling," he said.

The budget is expected to contain more money to progress the Melbourne Metro Rail project, a $10 billion underground cross-city tunnel designed take on thousands of extra passengers and connect the Dandenong and Sunshine rail corridors.

A swag of pre-budget announcements have been made, so far including: more than $1 billion to remove eight level crossings across Melbourne; $190 million to cut elective surgery waiting lists; a $220 million project to upgrade country rail and build a standardised rail link between Mildura and Geelong.

Mr O'Brien says the public service is safe from further cuts this budget, but it is yet to be seen what further pain may be in store for Victorians.

The government has already blamed a cut in the state's GST revenue from 90 cents in the dollar to 88 cents in 2014-15 for a $32 hike in car registrations and an increase in vehicle stamp duty.

The government says the extra charges would fund major transport infrastructure in the budget.

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Greens say they're the party to fix NSW

The Greens have announced their upper house line-up for the upcoming March 2015 NSW state election. Source: AAP

THERE'S a smell wafting from the Labor and Liberal party rooms in NSW parliament, the Greens say.

Just days after police minister Mike Gallacher stepped aside following claims in front of the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) over illegal donations to the Liberal Party, Greens NSW MP John Kaye announced on Sunday his new upper house team for the March 2015 election.

Joining him on the ticket will be existing MP Mehreen Faruqi, as well as coal seam gas campaigner and political advisor Justin Field.

Mr Kaye said the team would be highlighting their credentials as an alternative to the major parties.

"NSW politics has been plunged into crisis, not just by the Labor party but also by the Liberal party's endemic addiction to collecting funds from tainted sources," he told AAP.

"This is the time for reform. This is the election campaign where politics needs to change."

Mr Field, who is third on the ticket, said he will be taking out the message of clean water, energy and politics out into the community.

"A stench of corruption now hangs over NSW parliament, but only the Greens are able to say they can clean up politics."

The announcement comes after the Labor party revealed on Sunday that a "record number" of their party's supporters had voted for former MP Verity Firth to be the next state candidate in the Sydney seat of Balmain.

She narrowly lost the marginal inner-city seat to Greens candidate Jamie Parker at the 2011 election.

Mr Parker said the Greens were confident that there needs to be change.

"It doesn't matter who the candidate is, we have seen before that he structure of Labor means they are silenced ... I stand for a different approach to politics," he told AAP.

He said one of the bills the Greens would be be introducing to parliament in the following months is a push to implement 2010 ICAC recommendations on lobbying in NSW.

This included a recommendation to set up an independent body to oversee the role of lobbyists.

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