NSW sports minister becomes Titans CEO

NSW Sports Minister Graham Annesley has quit parliament to take up a job as the CEO of the Gold Coast Titans.

It comes just over two years after he entered Macquarie Street, and makes him the second minister to depart the government this month.

Speaking to parliament after question time on Wednesday, he said he was aware his decision to take the Queensland-based job would "attract criticism".

But, he explained, "I am not a career politician".

"I have never really considered myself to be a politician ... more of a sports administrator," he said, as he was reduced to tears.

"I don't consider myself to be a very good politician, in fact, there are many aspects of politics that I don't really care for."

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Rudd retreats to safety of Brisbane

PM Kevin Rudd has warned his critics not to write off his chances in next week's election. Source: AAP

PRIME Minister Kevin Rudd was back in his home state of Queensland and the relief showed on his face.

"We're all Queenslanders here!" he told a crowd of about 100 construction workers at a union rally in his Brisbane seat of Griffith.

Mr Rudd holds Griffith on a margin of 8.5 per cent but recent polling suggests he risks losing it to the coalition.

The mobile phone selfies were back and so, it appeared, was Mr Rudd's mojo.

Mac McLaggan, a 58-year-old construction worker, was impressed.

"I don't like the other bugger at all," he told AAP, referring to Opposition Leader Tony Abbott.

The supportive home crowd was a world away from the unfriendly welcome he received the day before in Sydney when a finger-wagging NSW Premier Barry O'Farrell confronted the PM over his plan to move a navy base out of his state.

Mr O'Farrell was on the warpath again on Wednesday, this time taking to Twitter to accuse Labor of not consulting on sites for its national disability insurance scheme (NDIS) roll-out in the state.

"Fed ALP dumps bipartisanship on disability by unilaterally announcing rollout of additional NSW NDIS sites despite our 'partnership'. Shame!" Mr O'Farrell tweeted.

But Mr Rudd didn't let that derail his Brisbane tour.

"Mr O'Farrell, I think, is doing everything Mr Abbott asks him to do in an election campaign," he told reporters.

His next stop was the offices of the Queensland Teachers Union in the seat of Brisbane, where he spruiked Labor's school funding reforms - developed under his predecessor Julia Gillard.

Mr Rudd asked the room full of teachers if they had federally funded multi-purpose facilities built in their schools.

"Has it been a good thing?" he asked.

"Yes, prime minister," the teachers dutifully replied.

In a warning to his critics not to write him off, Mr Rudd told the crowd the federal election for Labor could be a repeat of 1993, when Paul Keating prevailed over Liberal Leader John Hewson against the odds.

"You know something? The Australian people in the last couple of weeks in that campaign all scratched their heads and said 'I don't think we can afford this bloke'," Mr Rudd said.

"And that's where we're up to right now in this campaign."

He conceded he was behind, but also said he was "within reach" of the opposition.

"This is going to be a tough last 10 days of the campaign," he said.

Mr Rudd later signed a hand-written letter from year one student Ruby Melville, from Tivoli State School in Ipswich.

"Do you know about the solar system?" she asked in the note handed to Mr Rudd by her mum.

"Yes, but not as much as you," he wrote back.

Mr Rudd will on Wednesday night be at the Rooty Hill RSL in Sydney's west for a third leaders' debate against Mr Abbott.

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Floods leave 22 dead in the Philippines

THE Philippines is bracing for more rain as a tropical depression moved towards it one week after severe floods killed 22 people and affected nearly three million people.

The storm, packing maximum winds of 45km/h, was moving 13km/h north-northwest and would bring heavy rain over the north-eastern Philippines, the weather bureau said.

The national disaster risk management agency ordered local precautionary measures including pre-emptive evacuations of low-lying and mountainous areas.

Last week's typhoon dropped heavy rain that flooded Manila and forced the closure of schools, government offices and financial markets.

Floods in some northern provinces were still rising as rivers and dams overflowed, affecting 2.8 million people, including 94,215 staying in evacuation centres.

Damage to agriculture and infrastructure has been estimated at 14.72 million dollars, the national disaster risk management agency said.

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Rudd kitchen saga distracts from Syria

PM Kevin Rudd has rejected claims he delayed a national security briefing to film a cooking show. Source: AAP

KEVIN Rudd wanted to focus on the unfolding Syrian crisis but found himself being questioned about a filming engagement, the carbon tax and his record.

An irritated prime minister on Sunday was forced to reject reports he had pushed back a briefing on Syria to pre-record an episode of the ABC Television hit Kitchen Cabinet in Brisbane on Saturday.

Later on Saturday night Mr Rudd met with Foreign Minister Bob Carr, junior defence minister Mike Kelly and senior officials in his Parliament House office.

He dismissed suggestions he should have returned to Canberra sooner, saying his department head had advised him the earliest a briefing could be held was Saturday night or Sunday morning.

"I said the best thing to do was do it as soon as possible," Mr Rudd told ABC's Insiders program.

"The bottom line is if I hadn't taken the opportunity to alert the Australian people as to what was going on I would have been criticised for that."

News Corp Australia had reported Mr Rudd used a taxpayer-funded VIP jet to fly from Sydney to Brisbane on Saturday to appear on the program, rather than to Canberra for the briefing.

The prime minister said The Sunday Telegraph's claim he delayed the briefing was wrong.

"Had the newspaper bothered to contact my office, they would have known it was 100 per cent false," he said.

"I don't think it could be any clearer in terms of what has happened here."

Mr Rudd also on Sunday agreed Labor did not have a mandate to introduce a carbon tax after the 2010 election, effectively putting him in agreement with the coalition which plans to scrap the impost if it wins government on September 7.

"I don't think our actions on the carbon tax were right, that's why I changed it to move towards a floating price," he said.

"The core element here is that we believe climate change is real."

Mr Rudd was also asked if he was pleased his predecessor Julia Gillard had chosen to stay out of the political limelight, rather than take part in the election campaign.

"I said from the point at which I returned to the prime ministership, I would not be engaging in any negative commentary in relation to Julia's prime ministership," he said.

Was he grateful her supporters had not sabotaged his campaign, as his supporters did to her in 2010?

"I am not going to go to internal debates ... within the Labor party either at that time or on this occasion," he said.

"I respect Julia Gillard's contribution.

"She has made great contributions, they should be respected."

Mr Rudd flew to Sydney on Sunday, where he is expected to spend a few days campaigning.

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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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