Giant marsupial fossil found on Vic beach

A FOSSILISED giant wombat-like skeleton as large as a small car has been found on a Victorian beach by a local beachgoer.

It is believed to be the Diprotodon, the largest marsupial ever to have lived, and may be as old as 200,000 years and have weighed up to 1000kg.

Museum Victoria senior paleontologist Erich Fitzgerald said it was an exciting discovery because of its potential to shed new light on the extinct species.

"What we know is that it appears to be the most complete and best preserved discovery of this species in Victoria and one of the more complete found in Australia," Dr Fitzgerald told AAP on Wednesday.

"We may be able to get a lot more information about the animal's appearance and also potentially about its lifestyle from this particular specimen, given how much of it we actually have."

The skeleton was discovered earlier this year on a beach in Mornington Peninsula National Park by a Sorrento local who noticed bones eroding out of a rock.

"It was found by completely by chance. The person did exactly the right thing and contacted Parks Victoria," Dr Fitzgerald said.

The discovery came as a surprise to paleontologists as the area had never revealed any significant fossils.

"The ones that had been found have not been very complete," Dr Fitzgerald said.

"It suggests further exploration may lead to additional discoveries."

The job of removing the specimen from the site is ongoing and it may be months before researchers know for sure how much of it is preserved and intact.

The species was widespread across Australia when the first indigenous people arrived but became extinct about 25,000 years ago.

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Qld senate spots declared

Palmer United Party candidate Glenn Lazarus officially snared one of Queensland's six senate spots. Source: AAP

CLIVE Palmer's party is on track to hold the balance of power in the Senate with star candidate Glenn Lazarus officially snaring one of Queensland's six spots.

The former league prop will join the Palmer United Party's Tasmanian candidate Jacqui Lambie in the upper house, and possibly Zhenya Wang who is on track to win a Senate seat for the party in Western Australia.

The Australian Electoral Commission announced the six Queensland senators on Wednesday.

They include the Liberal National Party's James McGrath, who was the campaign director behind the party's mammoth win at the Queensland election in 2012.

As opposition leader, Campbell Newman was forced to reprimand Mr McGrath for his role in the Labor dirt-files affair.

During the state election campaign Mr Newman was embarrassed by revelations his own party had hired a former ALP staffer to dig dirt on Queensland Labor MPs.

The files contained salacious details about Labor MPs' sexual leanings and habits, among other things.

On Wednesday, Mr Newman praised his former campaign director.

"James did a tremendous job during last year's state election campaign, and I know he will be a terrific advocate for the people of Queensland as a member of the LNP Senate team," he said in a statement.

It wasn't the first time Mr McGrath found himself at the centre of political controversy.

He was previously an adviser to London Lord Mayor Boris Johnson but left over comments that embroiled his then boss in a race row.

The other Queensland senators are Ian MacDonald and Matthew Canavan, from the LNP, and Labor's Chris Ketter and Claire Moore.

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Stocks to watch at close on Tuesday

STOCKS to watch on the Australian stock exchange at close on Tuesday:

ELD - ELDERS - down 0.5 cents, 4.6 per cent, at 10.5 cents

Agribusiness Elders is investigating discrepancies surrounding the valuation of cattle designated for export.

FXJ - FAIRFAX MEDIA - up 1.0 cent, or 1.9 per cent, at 54.5 cents

Fairfax Media will cut 45 jobs through the merger of business reporting across three newspapers and the closure of high-gloss magazine inserts.

LEI - LEIGHTON HOLDINGS - up 21 cents, or 1.1 per cent, at $19.46

Construction giant Leighton has won a $370 million contract to build a new terminal and car park at Melbourne Airport.

POS - POSEIDON NICKEL - down 3.5 cents, or 24.1 per cent, at 11 cents

Billionaire miner Andrew Forrest has given Poseidon Nickel a further 12 months to repay an $8 million loan, as a close ally replaces him at the company.

TCL - TRANSURBAN - up 2.0 cents, or 0.3 per cent, at $6.82

Toll road owner Transurban is issuing its first euro-denominated debt in a move to diversify its funding sources.

VAH - VIRGIN AUSTRALIA HOLDINGS - down 0.5 cents, or 1.2 per cent, at 42.5 cents

Tigerair Australia has hired British defence and aerospace giant BAE Systems to provide maintenance services for its fleet of A320 aircraft.

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Commodity prices fall in September

AUSTRALIA'S export commodity prices fell in September to be 24 per cent below their July 2011 peak.

The Reserve Bank of Australia's index of commodity prices fell by 0.5 per cent in the month, in foreign currency terms.

The RBA said the largest contributor to the monthly fall was iron ore, but the prices of base metals also fell.

These falls were largely offset by increased prices for coking coal and a number of rural commodities.

Over the year to September, commodity prices were down by 3.1 per cent in foreign currency terms.

"Much of this fall has been due to declines in the prices of coking coal, gold and thermal coal, although the price of iron ore has risen," the RBA said.

Despite the falls from their 2001 recent peak, commodity prices remain elevated.

Prices in September were 177 per cent above the level recorded a decade earlier before the commodity price boom got going, a point acknowledged by the RBA earlier on Tuesday when it announced interest rats would not be changed this month.

"Commodity prices have declined from their peaks, but generally remain at high levels by historical standards," the RBA said in the interest rate announcement.

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Westpac Rescue Helicopter marks 40 years

The Westpac Life Saver Rescue Helicopter has celebrated 40 years of saving Australian lives. Source: AAP

IT began with a band of daring surfies rescuing swimmers off Sydney's beaches.

Now the Westpac Life Saver Rescue Helicopter celebrates its 40th birthday as a full rescue service that has helped people caught in some of the nation's worst disasters.

Two helicopters flew in formation over Sydney Harbour on Sunday to mark the occasion, four decades after a group of surf lifesavers founded the service in 1973 with a MASH-style single-engine light helicopter, the Bell C47.

Then it was known as the Wales Bank SLSA Helicopter Surf Rescue Service.

Today it has a fleet of 15 helicopters across twelve bases around the country, and has helped rescue Australians involved in the Waterfall train crash, the Milperra bikie massacre and the Thredbo landslide, where the service helicopter was on hand to fly sole survivor Stuart Diver to Canberra Hospital after he was trapped in rubble for almost three days.

But the more things have changed, the more they've stayed the same, according to CEO Stephen Leahy.

"The reason we go out hasn't changed in those 40 years, we were set up to help the people of Sydney and NSW and we're still doing that today," he told AAP.

"The only things that have really changed are the helicopters themselves - what we use now are bigger, better and faster."

Even the bank that helped launch the fledgling service in 1973 with a $25,000 cheque remains the same, despite a name change.

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Qld grandmother in carjack ordeal

A BRISBANE grandmother has described the terrifying moment she was carjacked while her baby granddaughter was in the back seat.

The 54-year-old was in a dark car park of an inner city unit complex waiting to pick up her son about 9.30pm (AEST) on Saturday night when the thief struck.

He tapped on the window with what she believes was a pistol.

The woman, who did not want her name published, said she opened the car window thinking it was her son.

"He said, 'get out of the car. This is true, it's a hold-up. Just do as I say and you're going to be OK'," the shaken woman told AAP.

"All I could think of was our little grand-daughter.

"I said, 'please, whatever you do don't take off, I've got my grand-daughter in the back'."

The man in his 20s let her take the seven-month-old from the car and even helped her unclip the baby seat.

He warned her to keep quiet and said the police were after him.

"He said, 'keep it quiet and you'll be fine but if you mutter a word you're going to be in trouble'," the woman said, adding that she'd felt sick with fright.

"He definitely had something which I thought was a little gun, a pistol...I thought oh my god, he's holding me up, I've got to do what he says."

The woman said the man, who was wearing a black beanie and dark clothes, drove off as soon as she had the baby out of the car.

She alerted passersby who came to their aid.

The woman, from Brisbane's east, said the horrible ordeal had made her paranoid about being held up again.

She hopes police find the thief and her son's car, a silver 2002 Nissan Patrol station wagon with registration 168 GWV.

It was last seen on Main Street at Kangaroo Point, in Brisbane's inner south.

Police are investigating and urge anyone with information to contact Crime Stoppers.

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Sydney northern beaches blaze downgraded

The Rural Fire Service has issued a total fire ban for NSW ahead of severe bushfire conditions. Source: AAP

THE fire burning through across the Barrenjoey Headland on NSW's northern beaches has been downgraded.

Firefighters have managed to save the iconic lighthouse on the headland at Palm Beach from the blaze.

The Rural Fire Service downgraded the alert for the fire after 4pm from emergency to watch and act.

NSWRFS spokesman Anthony Clark said a building in the lighthouse complex had sustained some damage.

"We have got 80 firefighters working to fully contain that fire being assisted by three aircraft at the moment." he said.

"It appears that one building in the lighthouse complex has sustained some damage.

"The building itself has been saved by firefighters."

Earlier in the day. the fire cut off access to the lighthouse and people in the area were advised to take shelter at the lighthouse.

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Malala gets Harvard award

The Pakistani girl who survived being shot by the Taliban has been honoured by Harvard University. Source: AAP

A PAKISTANI girl who survived an assassination attempt by the Taliban has been honoured as Harvard University's humanitarian of the year.

Malala Yousafzai, an outspoken proponent for girls' education, was at Harvard on Friday to accept the 2013 Peter J Gomes Humanitarian Award. Harvard President Drew Gilpin Faust said she was pleased to welcome Malala because of their shared interest in education.

Malala was shot in the head last October. Militants said she was attacked because she was critical of the Taliban, not because of her views on education.

The 16-year-old said she hopes to become a politician because politicians can have influence on a broad scale.

She spoke nostalgically about her home region, the Swat Valley, and said she hopes to return some day. She called it a "paradise" but described a dangerous area where militants blew up dozens of schools and sought to discourage girls from going to school by snatching pens from their hands. Students, she said, reacted by hiding their books under their shawls so people wouldn't know they were going to school.

"The so-called Taliban were afraid of women's power and were afraid of the power of education," she told hundreds of students, faculty members and well-wishers who packed Harvard's ornate Sanders Theater for the award ceremony.

Malala highlighted the fact that very few people spoke out against what was happening in her home region.

"Although few people spoke, but the voice for peace and education was powerful," she said.

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I didn't touch Rudd staffer: protester

A protester (pic) who stormed into Kevin Rudd's Brisbane office has denied assaulting a staffer. Source: AAP

A PROTESTER accused of shoulder barging a Kevin Rudd staffer claims she fell over on her own and he didn't even touch her.

Wayne Morris Wharton, 54, is on trial for allegedly assaulting Fleur Foster during a protest at the federal MP's Brisbane offices on February 6.

The sit-in protest, which called for indigenous sovereignty to be recognised, came a few hours after former prime minister Julia Gillard's Closing the Gap speech to parliament.

The prosecution alleges Wharton shoulder barged Ms Foster when she was struggling to shut a security door he was trying to open at the same time.

Prosecutor Gerrard Elmore played Wharton's police interview after the alleged incident in the Brisbane Magistrates Court on Thursday.

"I grabbed the handle of the door, a struggle took place," Wharton told police at the time.

"As I pulled the door back ... she fell over on the floor.

"If I had pushed (shoulder barged her) through the door she would've fallen backwards.

"I didn't assault her, I didn't touch her."

Wharton, who represented himself, began his cross-examination of Ms Foster by asking how she could have been pushed over if the security door opened outwards and he was on the outside of the door.

"Are you saying that you were no longer on the staff side of the door, you were on the public entrance side of the door?" he asked.

"Yes," Ms Forster replied.

Magistrate Noel Nunan said it was unclear where Ms Forster had been at the time of the alleged incident because her original witness statement said she was behind the security door in the staff area.

"The prosecution's case is not looking very strong at the moment," Magistrate Nunan told the court.

The trial continues.

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Perth Zoo elephant Tricia backs Dockers

MANY fans of the AFL team, the Fremantle Dockers, have come out of the woodwork recently - including Tricia the Asian elephant.

Perth Zoo's longest resident, Tricia, had her allegiance put to the test when keepers put paintings of the Dockers and Hawks logos in front of the 56-year-old.

She lumbered straight up to the purple one, clearly pointing her trunk at the canvas, a video uploaded to YouTube shows.

"She really could have picked anything, so we were really pleased," spokeswoman Debbie Read said.

The paintings were made by Tricia and her younger female herd member, Permai, as part of an enrichment program that gives the elephants physical and mental stimulation.

The keepers placed stencils of the team logos on the canvas and the elephants then sprayed them with paint.

Read said Perth Zoo's male elephant, Putra Mas, also liked painting.

"They become very excited when the keepers appear with the painting equipment," she said.

"They each paint with their own distinctive style and colour preference.

"We use vegetable-based non-toxic paint."

The elephants also paint with their feet.

Read said the paintings were sold, with the funds going towards wildlife conservation.

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