Zed's ACT Senate win could face challenge

SUPPORTERS of ousted sitting Liberal senator Gary Humphries will try to have his preselection loss overturned, accusing a triumphant former ACT opposition leader Zed Seselja of winning a rigged vote.

Many vented their frustration at the result outside the Eastlake Football Club in Kingston, labelling the preselection process "corrupt" and "disgusting".

Mr Seselja's push for the ACT Senate spot has divided the Liberal Party in Canberra, with Humphries supporters complaining they were effectively locked out of Saturday's vote.

The 35-year-old won the ballot by 114 to 84 - but more than 400 Liberal members were ineligible because they hadn't attended a branch meeting in the past six months.

Mr Seselja is alleged to have urged supporters to attend meetings just days before he announced his nomination, while other Liberal members were kept in the dark.

The new senate candidate dismissed talk of the preselection being rigged or unfair, saying, "It is a clear result from the party and I'm humbled by it."

"I think what we've had today is an exercise in democracy," Mr Seselja told reporters outside the football club.

"These processes are difficult, there is no doubt about it. Democracy is sometimes difficult - it can be messy."

Senator Humphries - who had been in the job for 10 years and had the support of opposition leader Tony Abbott - congratulated Mr Seselja on the win.

He said he would abide by the result despite talk of a challenge from his supporters.

"I would obviously dearly have loved to have been there to fight that fight and have been the person who took on Labor and the Greens in September," he said.

"I'm sad after a very long career in politics to have to bow out, but one's time is up sooner or later and obviously today the view of members is my time is up."

Former Canberra Liberals president Gary Kent said a full divisional council of the party would be convened in the next few weeks, triggered by a petition from members angry at the Seselja coup.

That meeting would have the power to overturn what he dubbed Saturday's "unfair and corrupt" preselection.

"I'm a Liberal (and) I'm ashamed of what happened today," Mr Kent told reporters.

"There will be a meeting in the middle of March at which hopefully 640 party members will be able to judge what happened here today.

"It was less than one in three voters. That was deliberate.

"Many people were not told about qualifying meetings."

A spokeswoman for Mr Abbott said he would not be commenting on the ACT preselection.

Federal ACT Labor MP Andrew Leigh said the jobs of thousands of Canberra public servants would be at risk with the election of Mr Seselja.

"Mr Seselja will be the last person to stand between Canberra and the Liberals' band of anti-public service Visigoths," he said in a statement.

Greens senate candidate for the ACT, former GetUp! director Simon Sheikh, invited Mr Seselja to a debate on coalition plans to cut public service jobs.

"One thing is clear - if there is an Abbott government, their intention is to cull public service jobs, and Canberra will be the hardest hit," he said in a statement.

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Catholic priests should be able to marry

Britain's most senior catholic cardinal says priests should be able to marry and have children. Source: AAP

ROMAN Catholic priests should be able to marry and have children, Britain's most senior cardinal said on Friday.

Cardinal Keith O'Brien, who will be part of the conclave tasked with choosing a new pope to replace Benedict XVI, said the church's requirement for priests to be celibate was not of "divine origin" and should be reconsidered.

"Many priests have found it very difficult to cope with celibacy as they lived out their priesthood, and felt the need of a companion, of a woman, to whom they could get married and raise a family of their own," the 74-year-old told the BBC.

"The celibacy of the clergy, whether priests should marry - Jesus didn't say that.

"There was a time when priests got married, and of course we know at the present time in some branches of the church - in some branches of the Catholic church - priests can get married," he added.

"So that is obviously not of divine origin and it could get discussed again."

O'Brien will have a say in who succeeds Benedict after he stands down on February 28.

He said he had not yet decided who should take over leadership of the world's 1.2 billion Catholics, but suggested it could be time for a younger pontiff, possibly from the developing world.

"I would be open to a pope from anywhere if I thought it was the right man, whether it was Europe or Asia or Africa or wherever," he added.

Benedict stunned the world last week by becoming the first pope in more than 600 years to resign voluntarily.

No clear favourite has emerged, although the 85-year-old's announcement that he lacked the strength to lead the church indicates the need for a younger pope.

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N Korea permits mobile net for foreigners

NORTH Korea will soon allow foreigners to tweet, Skype and surf the internet from their mobile phones, iPads and other mobile devices in its second relaxation of controls on communications in recent weeks.

However, North Korean citizens will not have access to the mobile internet service to be offered by provider Koryolink within the next week.

Koryolink, a joint venture between Korea Post & Telecommunications Corporation and Egypt's Orascom Telecom Media and Technology Holding SAE, informed foreign residents in Pyongyang on Friday that it will launch a third generation, or 3G, mobile Internet service no later than March 1.

The announcement comes just weeks after North Korea began allowing foreigners to bring their own mobile phones into the country.

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Aust three-year bonds weaker

AUSTRALIAN three-year bond futures prices are weaker following positive comments about the economy from the Reserve Bank.

At 1630 AEDT on Friday, the March 10-year bond futures contract was trading at 96.485 (implying a yield of 3.515 per cent), unchanged from Thursday.

The March three-year bond futures contract was at 97.100 (2.900 per cent), down from 97.130 (2.870 per cent).

RBC Capital Markets fixed income strategist Michael Turner said three-year futures sold off as a result of Reserve Bank of Australia governor Glenn Stevens' twice yearly appearance before the federal parliamentary economics committee.

"We sold off on the back of Stevens. We've had a bit of a rally over the past few sessions, so it was enough to see futures drift off," Mr Turner said.

He said Mr Stevens' comments reduced expectations the central bank would cut the cash rate, currently at 3.0 per cent, in the next few months.

"He was pretty keen to highlight how much they've done already, so markets took that as a sign that they wouldn't mind taking a breather should the data permit."

Mr Turner said the key local driver for bond markets next week would be the release of capital expenditure data for the December quarter on Thursday.

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Israel slams EU delay in putting Hezbollah

ISRAEL'S Home Front Defence Minister Avi

Dichter has denounced Europe's hesitation in putting Lebanon's Hezbollah on its

terror list, branding debate on the issue as "almost a joke."

"Asking if Hezbollah is a terror organisation is like asking if Paris

belongs to France," he told reporters late Tuesday during a visit to France.

"Who is sleeping?" he said. "Are we Israelis sleeping or are countries in

Europe sleeping? There's no debate."

The United States had asked the European Union to follow it and put

Hezbollah on its terror list but the issue is contested among the 27 member

states. A unanimous decision is required.

"To speak about Hassan Nasrallah as someone who is only political is

ridiculous," the minister said, referring to the powerful Shiite leader.

Israel and the Shiite militia, which is allied with the Iranian and Syrian

regimes, fought a bloody 34-day war in 2006 that killed more than 1,200 people

in Lebanon, mostly civilians. Some 160 Israelis, most of them soldiers, were

killed.

Bulgaria has said Hezbollah was responsible for the bombing of an Israeli

tourist bus in July last year which claimed six lives.

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Qantas reports big lift in net profit

Qantas Airways reported net profit of $111 million for the first half of 2012/13. Source: AAP

QANTAS' key domestic operations have suffered a steep drop in first half earnings as the battle for market share forces down airfares.

However, an improved performance from Qantas international, and growth in the frequent flyer business, supported a strong rise in first half net profit to $111 million, more than double the $42 million achieved in the prior corresponding period.

The result, which was a little below market expectations, also included a $125 million payment from Boeing as part of changes to Qantas' 787 Dreamliner orders announced in August 2012.

Meanwhile, underlying earnings at Qantas domestic fell 34 per cent to $218 million, with yields - an industry measure of average airfares per passenger - down as the airline sold extra seats as competition with rival Virgin Australia heated up.

"Clearly this reflects the elevated levels of capacity growth into the market as the competitor tries to claim market share from Qantas domestic," chief executive Alan Joyce said.

"But Qantas has maintained its leading 84 per cent share of the corporate market."

Mr Joyce said Jetstar's 13 per cent drop in underlying earnings to $128 million, was largely driven by domestic market conditions and start-up costs for offshore ventures in Japan and the yet-to-be-approved Jetstar Hong Kong.

Qantas expects to increase capacity in the Australian domestic market by five to seven per cent during the second half of 2012/13 across both Qantas and Jetstar.

Mr Joyce said the overall result demonstrated the airline's progress in a challenging competitive environment.

"The operating environment remains complex and volatile, but we are now beginning to realise the benefits of the tough decisions that we have made over the past 18 months," Mr Joyce said.

Qantas' international operations posted an underling loss of $91 million, an improvement from the $262 million loss in the prior corresponding period.

Mr Joyce said Qantas international was on track to break even by 2014/15, as the full benefits of a restructure plan - cutting loss-making routes, retirement of older aircraft and alliances with foreign carriers such as Emirates - were realised.

"These measures provide a platform to return Qantas international to profit and, over the long term, target growth opportunities," he said.

The Emirates tie-up was awaiting a final decision from the competition regulator, due in March.

Investors welcomed the signs of improvement in Qantas international, with the stock closing up 4.5 cents at $1.66.

"No doubt the international strategy is beginning to yield some positive results," White Funds Management investment Peter Borkovec said.

"They are still losing money, but it is travelling in the right direction and the market is reacting to that."

The frequent flyer business posted a 42 per cent rise in underlying earnings to $137 million.

Qantas said underlying profit before tax - its preferred measure of financial performance - was $223 million in the half, above consensus forecasts of $209 million and at the top end of company guidance.

The airline, which did not declare a dividend, said conditions were too volatile and uncertain to offer profit guidance for the full 2012/13 year.

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Aurizon expects $40m flood hit to earnings

RAIL operator Aurizon is expecting damage from the Queensland floods and a train derailment to wipe more than $40 million from its full year earnings.

The group, previously known as QR National, gave the warning on Wednesday as it reported a 10.3 per cent drop in first half profit.

Ex-tropical cyclone Oswald and subsequent flooding caused significant damage to Aurizon's Blackwater and Moura rail systems in January.

Chief executive Lance Hockridge said flood damage and a separate train derailment earlier this month was likely to wipe $42 million from full year earnings.

"We see ... roughly a four million tonne impact as a result of the floods and thus the revision in the way that we describe our guidance for the full year," he told AAP on Wednesday.

Aurizon said the Moura system was re-opened on Tuesday night after a 26-day outage, while the Blackwater system had re-opened earlier in February.

The company estimated the below-rail repair costs from the floods at $10 million to $15 million.

Aurizon expects to recover those losses in 2013/14 through haulage tariffs it charges to mining companies.

The four million tonne reduction in coal volumes from the floods is expected to put a $22 million dent in Aurizon's 2012/13 pre-tax earnings as coal volumes are revised down to between 192 million and 195 million tonnes.

"More probably than not, we won't know until next year," Mr Hockridge told reporters in a conference call.

"The remainder of the impact depends on ... picking up the throughput to be able to claw back some of that four million tonnes, between now and the end of June."

A train derailment on February 7, between Rockhampton and Gladstone in central Queensland, is expected to cost $5 million.

Mr Hockridge noted that average weekly coal haulage in the 13 weeks before the floods was 3.94 million tonnes.

Aurizon's net profit fell to $175.7 million in the six months to December 31, from $196 million in the previous corresponding period.

Mr Hockridge also attributed the fall, in part, to an $87.8 million cost for a second round of 814 voluntary redundancies, announced in August.

Revenue rose to $1.9 billion from $1.7 billion and underlying net profit climbed to $222 million from $175 million.

Mr Hockridge said he was optimistic about the medium to long-term outlook for resources and bulk commodities, as global demand continued for Australian coal and iron ore.

RBS Morgans senior private client adviser Bill Chatterton said lower coal prices were behind the lower than expected underlying profit result.

"The weak coal division result was the sole cause of the disappointment on our forecasts," he told AAP.

Shares in Aurizon Holdings closed 6.2 per cent, or 26 cents weaker, at $3.95 on Wednesday.

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Pistorius arrives for 2nd day of hearing

OSCAR Pistorius is at the court building for the second day of his bail hearing, arriving in a police car with a blue blanket covering his head.

Prosecutors were preparing on Wednesday to outline why they believe the double-amputee Olympian murdered his model girlfriend.

Pistorius says the killing of Reeva Steenkamp was accidental and that he shot her by mistake in fear of an intruder in his house in South Africa.

Prosecutor Gerrie Nels told the court he will elaborate on the state's version that Steenkamp and the athlete had a fight and that she fled to the toilet before Pistorius shot through the door four times and killed her.

Pistorius was charged with premeditated murder. The magistrate says his defence must offer "exceptional" reasons for him to be freed on bail.

On Tuesday Pistorius tearfully denied the premeditated murder of Steenkamp, telling the court he shot at her through a locked bathroom door believing she was an intruder.

"I am absolutely mortified by the events and the devastating loss of my beloved Reeva," Pistorius said in an affidavit at a court hearing in the capital Pretoria, his first public comments on the killing.

The 26-year-old double amputee 'Blade Runner' track star broke down in tears repeatedly as his words filled the court: "We were deeply in love and couldn't be more happy."

"I had no intention to kill my girlfriend," he said in the statement read by his lawyer.

At one point the court was forced to break so the track star could pull himself together.

"He's definitely been broken," his public relations manager Stuart Higgins said.

As the court hearing proceeded on Tuesday, Steenkamp was laid to rest at an emotional private ceremony at a crematorium in her hometown of Port Elizabeth.

Pistorius was an inspiration to millions when he became the first double amputee to compete against able-bodied athletes in the Olympics.

He now faces a charge of premeditated murder, which will likely result in remand without bail and, if convicted, a life sentence.

Pistorius said the couple, who had been dating since late last year, had spent the evening at his upscale Pretoria home watching television and with the 29-year-old Steenkamp doing yoga.

He said he awoke in the dead of night to bring in a fan from the balcony when he heard a noise.

"Filled with horror and fear" that someone was in the bathroom, he said he felt "very vulnerable" because he did not have his prosthetic legs on.

"I fired shots at the toilet door and shouted to Reeva to phone the police.

"Reeva was not responding. When I reached the bed, I realised that Reeva was not in bed.

"That is when it dawned on me that it could have been Reeva who was in the toilet."

After smashing the door with a cricket bat, Pistorius said "Reeva was slumped over but alive".

"I tried to render the assistance to Reeva that I could, but she died in my arms."

He said he kept a firearm, a 9mm Parabellum, under his bed at night because he had been a "victim of violence and burglaries before".

He was not only acutely aware of intruders intending to commit violent crime but that "I have received death threats before".

Prosecutors argued that far from being an accident, Steenkamp's death was a premeditated act of murder.

Prosecutor Gerrie Nel told the court Pistorius had armed himself, put on his prosthetic legs, walked seven metres and fired four shots into the bathroom door, hitting a terrified Steenkamp three times and fatally wounding her.

"She could go nowhere," Nel said. "She locked the door for a purpose. We will get to that purpose."

There was no decision about bail on Tuesday, with the court proceedings adjourned until Wednesday.

Prosecution spokesman Medupe S'Maiku said the hearings could take all week.

Magistrate Desmond Nair said he could not rule out that there was some planning involved in the killing, which may be considered as a premeditated murder for the purposes of bail.

But Pistorius' legal team rejected the claims as he sought to argue he was not a flight risk.

Meanwhile in Port Elizabeth, tearful friends and family bid farewell to Steenkamp, whose cloth-draped coffin with white flowers laid on top was carried into a chapel in the southeastern coastal city where she grew up.

"There's a space missing inside all of the people that she knew that can't be filled again," her brother Adam, who gave the eulogy, said after the ceremony. "We'll miss her."

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WIN TV cuts in SA slammed by pollies

WIN TV's decision to close two regional news services in South Australia has been slammed by politicians.

Independent SA senator Nick Xenophon says he will move to amend the Broadcasting Services Act to include regional SA so communities can receive news about their local area.

Staff in WIN's South-East and Riverland regions received letters on Monday saying the news broadcasts had ended and their positions were redundant, effective immediately.

Senator Xenophon said he was joining local mayors in expressing disappointment about the loss.

SA Regional Development Minister Gail Gago said it was a blow for communities where people would lose their jobs and leave an enormous gap in regional media.

Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young said the closures will hurt rural communities and reduce both the quality and quantity of local news for all South Australians.

"The Greens are passionate about supporting local media, especially in regional Australia, and will continue to work to improve funding and tie it to content production quotas," she said in a statement.

Senator Xenophon said regional South Australia should be protected in the same way that eastern states are required to meet quotas for local content.

He will seek to amend section 43A of the Broadcasting Services Act to include SA, he said in a statement on Tuesday.

The section currently includes a requirement for local content in: northern NSW, southern NSW, regional Victoria, eastern Victoria, western Victoria, regional Queensland and Tasmania

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Labor refuses to take on miners: Milne

The Greens have called for another inquiry into the federal government's controversial mining tax. Source: AAP

THE Australian Greens want another review of the federal government's controversial mining tax, but the opposition sees little point in raking over a failed impost it would ditch anyway.

Greens Leader Christine Milne will seek an inquiry into the minerals resource rent tax (MRRT) when the Senate sits next week, after revenue figures showed a massive shortfall in the tax compared with the government's projections.

She told the National Press Club in Canberra on Wednesday the Labor government was refusing point blank to fix the loopholes in their "dud of a mining tax" that has raised only $126 million in its first six months when it was supposed to bring in $2 billion in its first year.

"We have a Labor government refusing to take on the mining industry, to work with the Greens, to fix the mining tax so the mining magnates pay their fair share," she said.

At the same time, the Tony Abbott-led opposition wants to give the mining industry a free ride by having no tax at all, she said.

Mr Abbott told reporters in Sydney the MRRT was a bad tax that penalised the economy's strongest sector.

"No country has ever taxed its way to prosperity, so we think this tax should be scrapped, not reviewed," Mr Abbott said.

Shadow assistant treasurer Mathias Cormann said he has already chaired two very comprehensive Senate mining tax inquiries that exposed the MRRT as a "complex mess".

"However, if the Greens want to have yet another Senate inquiry into Labor's failed mining tax to give a platform for critics to explain again everything that's wrong with it, then we won't oppose that," he said in a statement.

Embattled treasurer Wayne Swan said he had no intention of stepping down because of the furore over the MRRT, nor did he have any fear of another review.

But he told reporters in Brisbane the whole issue surrounding mining taxation demonstrated fundamental differences between Labor and the Greens, and Labor and the Liberals.

"The Greens want to abolish the mining industry ... they don't see the importance of mining to our economy, they don't understand the role it plays in jobs and growth," he said.

"Then on the far right you have got the Liberal Party with all of their Tea Party elements and (they) argue that mining billionaires shouldn't pay their fair share."

Senator Milne said former Greens leader Bob Brown had sat opposite Mr Swan and "eyeballed" him, saying there were flaws in this tax and they must be fixed.

"They refused to fix them because they said they'd done a deal with the mining industry and they weren't at liberty to make any changes," Senator Milne said, while conceding that collecting some dollars was better than collecting none at all.

She rejected comparisons with the Greens' stance on former Labor leader Kevin Rudd's carbon pollution reduction scheme, in which it had no input and which failed in parliament because the minor party wouldn't support it.

"The difference there is that something was not better than nothing," she said.

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Poor eating 'causes 50 per cent of deaths'

PEOPLE are eating too much of the wrong foods, according to revised dietary guidelines that blame poor nutrition for more than half the deaths in Australia.

The guidelines, released by the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) in Canberra on Monday, update those issued in 2003.

They suggest people achieve and maintain a healthy weight, be physically active and choose amounts of nutritious food and drinks to meet their energy needs, said Professor Warwick Anderson, CEO of the council.

He said adolescents should be physically active every day.

According to the guidelines, the number of overweight and obese people has increased significantly since the 1970s. And according to the latest research most Australian adults are overweight.

If current trends continue, 83 per cent of men and 75 per cent women will be overweight or obese by 2025.

Prof Anderson says people should "enjoy a wide variety of nutritious foods".

They should limit their intake of foods containing saturated fat, added salt and added sugars. Alcohol should be consumed in moderation.

"Limit intake of foods high in saturated fat such as many biscuits, cakes, pastries, pies, processed meats, commercial burgers, pizza, fried foods, potato chips and crisps.

"Replace high-fat foods which contain predominantly saturated fats such as butter, cream, cooking margarine, coconut and palm oil with foods which contain predominantly polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fats such as oils, spreads, nut butters/pastes and avocado."

However, Prof Anderson warned that low-fat diets were not suitable for children under the age of two.

"Consuming a sensible, balanced diet can help us to achieve optimal health throughout life. But knowing exactly what to eat can be confusing when there is so much conflicting advice out there," he said.

The challenge was how to "get enough of what is good for us without eating too much food that makes us fat."

Prof Anderson said the guidelines did not attempt to "mandate what you should and should not eat."

"We come from a wide range of backgrounds and we eat a wide range of food."

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LG unveils new full-HD smartphone

LG Electronics has unveiled the latest version of its flagship smartphone, boasting a higher resolution screen aimed at gaining a technical edge over bigger rivals like Samsung.

The Optimus G Pro - the newest version of the Optimus G series and the first LG smartphone offering a full high-definition (HD) screen - will hit stores at home on Wednesday, the South Korean firm said.

The new handset is powered by Android software and measures 15.2cm long and 7.6cm wide.

It goes on sale in Japan and North America in the second quarter.

The Optimus G Pro features a 13.97cm display that packs over 2 million pixels, or twice as many as smartphones with ordinary HD screens, offering brighter and clearer images.

Global handset makers like Taiwan's HTC and Sony of Japan have recently rolled out models boasting full HD screens - most commonly used for TVs - to gain an edge in the increasingly competitive smartphone market.

Samsung Electronics, the world's top maker of both smartphones and mobile handsets in general, is also expected to unveil a new full-HD version of its headline Galaxy S model.

"With smartphones getting bigger and bigger, its visual function becomes ever more important," LG said on Monday.

"An ability to offer high-resolution images is paramount."

LG, the world's number two flat-screen TV producer and the fifth biggest phone maker, has struggled for years in the rapidly-growing smartphone market, with its Optimus series lagging far behind Apple's iPhone or the Galaxy S.

But heavy promotion of new models saw LG's smartphone sales in the fourth quarter of 2012 surge 56 per cent from a year ago to a record 8.6 million units.

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Vic legal aid workers may strike

LAWYERS, administration workers and support staff at Victorian Legal Aid could walk off the job after Fair Work Australia approved a ballot for protected industrial action.

Union members have until March 15 to vote on a range of measures that could include anything from distributing campaign material to strikes.

Staff are seeking a pay increase above the current offer of nine per cent over three years.

Meanwhile, Victorian Legal Aid is seeking government approval to put the offer directly to staff in a ballot, in a bid to end the 12-month pay dispute.

"Victoria Legal Aid has been working hard to resolve its enterprise bargaining negotiations as soon as possible while seeking an enterprise agreement that is both fair and affordable," VLA managing director Bevan Warner said in a statement.

Community and Public Sector Union (CPSU) Victorian secretary Karen Batt said legal aid workers hadn't had a pay increase since 2009.

"They're coming up to two years since they've actually had a pay rise and they're not proposing to recognise that in the offer," Ms Batt told AAP on Sunday.

She said staff wanted a similar deal to other public service sectors which averaged a rise closer to four per cent.

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CBA profits aren't due to rates: Narev

A RECORD boost to the Commonwealth Bank's bottom line cannot be attributed to the bank's decision to withhold interest rate cuts, chief executive Ian Narev says.

Australia's largest home loan lender last week reported a net profit of $3.66 billion in the six months to December 31, up one per cent on the same period in the previous year.

While the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) cut the cash rate by 125 basis points to three per cent in calendar 2012, Commonwealth Bank of Australia's (CBA) standard variable mortgage rate was cut by just 90 basis points to 6.4 per cent.

Despite the difference, Mr Narev said the bank was highly profitable for several reasons.

"If you dissect the result, the input of margin here overall, I think margin went up 4 basis points, that's a contributor but by no means the big driver of the profit," Mr Narev told ABC's Inside Business on Sunday.

He said there was a difference with institutional markets and with the markets business, which had nothing to do with rate cuts.

"You've got improvement in productivity, that's got nothing to do with rate cuts, you've got a big improvement in the wealth management business, 6.5 billion dollars of funds flowing and that's got nothing to do with the rate cuts, so I certainly wouldn't categorise the performance being driven by rate cuts."

CBA's better than expected profits last week pushed the bank's shares to a record high, and put the bank on track for another record full year profit near $7.6 billion.

Mr Narev said CBA's retail home lending income was up about 15 per cent but deposit income was down 11 per cent so it was important to look at margins on a net basis.

"We've seen a period where deposit competitions remain strong and in fact our retail banking margins are about, I think from memory, 30 or 40 basis points below where they were in 2006, so by no means are we sitting on a real bonanza of retail banking margin at the moment," he said.

Wholesale funding costs were going up because new funding was still more expensive.

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