NSW hospitals at risk of infection

The Opposition says cuts to the number of cleaners in hospitals could lead to serious infections. Source: AAP

THE NSW opposition is warning of an infections outbreak following reports of a drastic drop in the number of cleaners at some of NSW's busiest hospitals.

Opposition health spokesman Andrew McDonald cited a recent report which found Royal North Shore Hospital was down 67 full time cleaners compared to numbers in 2010.

During the same period Westmead Hospital lost 20 full time cleaners while the Nepean Hospital was down 25.

Across the greater Sydney region there has been an overall loss of 139 full time cleaners, Dr McDonald said.

"Slashing the number of cleaners in our hospitals is a huge infection risk and highly dangerous," he said.

The average hospital cleaner cleaned a minimum of 35 beds per week or 1820 beds per year, while unclean beds, wards and operating theatres could lead to serious and deadly infections, he said.

"Golden Staph and Vancomycin Resistant Enterococci (VRE) still kill people in NSW hospitals in 2013," he warned.

"Cutting the number of cleaners also means vacant beds are left empty for hours until they can be cleaned, while more patients sit waiting to be admitted in the emergency department."

Mr McDonald blamed the staff reductions on the O'Farrell government's $3 billion cut to health funding.

"A huge reduction in cleaners and the number of cleaning hours in our hospital is what happens when you cut $3 billion from the health system."

But a spokeswoman for Northern Sydney Local Health District denied the cuts.

She said Royal North Shore Hospital had employed 44 more cleaners since July 2011, taking the number of cleaners to 186.

This represents a 30 per cent increase in staff, she added.

A spokeswoman for Nepean Blue Mountains Local Health District said cleaning staff at Nepean Hospital had increased by 7.8 Full-time equivalent (FTE) positions since July 2011.

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Judge finalising deal in Toyota case

Motorists say their Toyota's value plunged after recalls over claims they unexpectedly accelerated. Source: AAP

A CALIFORNIAN judge is finalising a billion-dollar settlement in cases in which motorists say the value of their Toyotas plunged after recalls over claims they unexpectedly accelerated.

US District Judge James Selna said on Friday he was approving the deal that was announced in December and will affect 22 million consumers.

Hundreds of lawsuits have been filed against Toyota since 2009, when the Japanese car manufacturer started receiving complaints its cars accelerated on their own, causing crashes, injuries and even deaths. More than 14 million vehicles have been recalled since the claims surfaced.

Toyota has denied the allegations, blaming driver error, faulty floor mats and stuck accelerator pedals for the problems.

Steve Berman, a lawyer representing Toyota owners, has said the settlement is the largest in US history involving car defects, estimated to be up to the value of $US1.6 billion ($A1.75 billion).

Those who sold their vehicles at a loss can receive anywhere from $US125 to $US10,000 depending on the level of depreciation, he added.

"This is a great settlement for consumers," Berman said.

"It includes both safety fixes to make Toyota vehicles safer, as well as monetary relief for owners who saw a reduction in their vehicle's value."

The company had previously said it will take a one-time, $US1.1 billion pre-tax charge against earnings to cover the estimated costs of the settlement.

"This agreement allows us to resolve a legacy legal issue in a way that provides significant value to our customers and demonstrates that they can depend on Toyota to stand behind our vehicles," the car manufacturer said in a statement.

The cases were consolidated before Judge Selna in Orange County and divided into two categories, those for economic loss and those for wrongful death.

Toyota has settled a couple of wrongful death cases and the first one to go to trial is scheduled to begin in a Los Angeles courtroom next week.

As part of the economic loss settlement, Toyota will offer cash payments from a pool of about $US250 million to eligible customers who sold vehicles or turned in leased vehicles between September 2009 and December 2010.

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Rainsy welcomed back to Cambodia

Cambodian opposition leader Sam Rainsy returned from exile amid jubilant scenes ahead of elections. Source: AAP

TENS of thousands of jubilant supporters have welcomed Cambodia's newly pardoned opposition leader home from exile as his party fights to end Prime Minister Hun Sen's nearly three decades in power.

Huge crowds gathered outside Phnom Penh's airport and lined the road to the city centre on Friday to welcome Sam Rainsy, waving flags and shouting "change, change!"

The French-educated former banker fled in 2009 to avoid charges he contends were politically motivated.

Rainsy kissed the ground at the airport upon returning from France before boarding a truck with his political allies, raising his fist as he greeted a sea of supporters.

"I'm very happy. I came back to rescue the nation with you all," he said before heading in a convoy for Democracy Park, which was packed with people waiting for him to speak.

The 64-year-old had faced 11 years in jail but was pardoned by King Sihamoni last week at Hun Sen's request, clearing the way for his return ahead of elections on July 28.

"I'm very happy and excited to see the leader of democracy returning to the country," said Sok Kan, 64, who was among those waiting to greet him.

"He is far different from the current leader. He sacrifices everything for the nation," Kuch Narith, 26, told AFP.

US lawmakers have called for the United States to cut off aid to Cambodia unless this month's polls are free and fair.

Hun Sen is one of South-East Asia's longest-serving leaders. His Cambodian People's Party (CPP) won the last two polls by a landslide amid allegations of fraud and election irregularities.

In May Hun Sen, a former Khmer Rouge cadre who defected from the murderous 1970s regime and became premier in 1985, said he would try to stay in power for another decade.

Rainsy told AFP before his return that the pardon was "a small victory for democracy" but also warned that "much more remains to be done".

The opposition leader, who is seen as the main challenger to strongman Hun Sen, has been removed from the electoral register and as a result is unable to run as a candidate this month unless parliament amends the law.

But he plans to hit the campaign trail soon to try to boost support for his Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP).

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Abbott backs expanding offshore processing

Tony Abbott says the coalition supports expanding offshore processing of asylum seekers. Source: AAP

ANY moves by the federal government to expand offshore processing of asylum seekers will be "too little, too late", the opposition says.

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd is on Friday expected to announce an increase to the capacity of Australia's Papua New Guinea processing centre on Manus Island from 600 to 3000.

The facility currently houses 215 people in tents and a 600-bed permanent facility is due for completion in January.

"Fine, by all means let's expand the capacity of the Manus centre," Opposition Leader Tony Abbott told reporters in Brisbane on Friday.

"But from this government, it's too little too late."

If Labor were "fair dinkum" about offshore processing it would have finished work on its regional centres sooner, Mr Abbott added.

Former prime minister Julia Gillard reinstated the Howard-era policy of offshore processing in August 2012.

Opposition immigration spokesman Scott Morrison earlier said the coalition would likely retain any increases to capacity on Manus Island, should it be announced by Mr Rudd.

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Taliban kill eight Afghan US base workers

TALIBAN gunmen have shot dead eight Afghan civilians on their way to jobs at a US military base south of Kabul, officials say.

"Eight Afghan workers who were working in Camp Shank were killed this morning by Taliban," said the deputy police chief in Logar province, Rais Khan Sadeq, on Thursday.

It was the deadliest attack since Afghanistan started observing the holy Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, traditionally a time of prayer and charity.

"They were forced out of their car and taken about 200 metres off road to a nearby village, and shot in the head one by one," he told AFP.

Their bodies were found with their eyes blindfolded, the police official said, describing them as "ordinary civilian workers" on the base.

US and NATO military bases across Afghanistan hire local staff to work on construction projects and as cleaners.

Din Mohammad Darvish, the Logar administration spokesman, confirmed the incident and said the bodies of the victims were recovered in the village.

"They were poor and ordinary workers, all civilians," he said.

Afghan officials blamed the attack on the Taliban. Logar is a stronghold for the militants waging a 12-year insurgency against the Western-backed government after being toppled in a 2001 US-led invasion.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but the Taliban have vowed to increase their attacks during Ramadan.

The insurgents have stepped up attacks on Afghan forces since they took responsibility for national security last month.

In the north, police said Taliban attacked a police post near the city of Kunduz, killing two officers and wounding two others - the only four on duty at the time.

Around 100,000 US-led NATO troops in Afghanistan are preparing to withdraw by the end of next year, after key presidential polls scheduled for April.

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Rudd return 'unique', Bowen says

Treasurer Chris Bowen (pic) supports Kevin Rudd's return but backs reform preventing future spills. Source: AAP

TREASURER Chris Bowen says the circumstances behind the return of Kevin Rudd are unique and don't conflict with planned reforms to the way Labor selects its parliamentary leader.

Prime Minister Rudd has proposed the leader be jointly elected by federal Labor MPs and grassroots party members, with each group having 50 per cent of the vote.

It would make it virtually impossible for caucus to remove a leader, as happened in 2010 when Mr Rudd was replaced as prime minister by Julia Gillard, because it would require 75 per cent to back a spill.

Mr Bowen was on Thursday asked how he squared his role in supporting Mr Rudd's return and his backing for the reform.

"The circumstances which led to the successful return to Kevin were frankly pretty unique," he told the National Press Club in Canberra.

"They are circumstances which go to his departure from the prime ministership in 2010 and the pretty strong view expressed by the Australian people that there was a case for his return.

"I do recognise this is a challenge for the caucus in terms of ensuring that a leader is more difficult to remove.

"That's a legitimate point to make, but I also think that the circumstances in which our leaders should be removed are pretty rare and unusual."

The reform will be considered at a special caucus meeting in Sydney next week.

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BHP posts record output for year

BHP Billiton's shareholders could be in for a cash bonanza after it posted record production in a year in which it slashed billions of dollars in spending.

Commodity prices have fallen but are still historically high, meaning BHP should be generating plenty of cash out of its biggest earner iron ore, currently at a strong $US129 ($A140.37) a tonne.

After beating expectations and lifting iron ore output by seven per cent to a record 187 million tonnes in the year to June 30, the view was that the extra volumes were offsetting the price falls.

BHP, the world's largest diversified resources group, says it will push on with its iron ore expansion, forecasting production of 207 million tonnes this year.

There was a $340 million blowout in expansion costs during the year.

Analysts are forecasting weaker full year net profit of $US12 billion to $US13 billion from $US15.4 billion a year ago.

However on top of that, the company's recently appointed boss Andrew MacKenzie flagged slashing capital and exploration expenditure by as much as $US7 billion a year from its current $US22 billion in two to three years.

BHP's share price had shot up 75 cents, or 2.2 per cent, to $34.18 at 1400 AEST, but is down 12 per cent from its year-high $39 in February.

CMC Markets chief market strategist Michael McCarthy said the share price highlighted to him how wrong investors had been in not allowing for a boom in mining volumes to offset pricing.

"We've all gone doom and gloom on mining, but China has not slowed - it is continuing to grow," he told AAP.

BHP shipped more iron ore than it produced - 217 million tonnes - for the year, showing Chinese demand was strong, with Rio Tinto also posting strong half year shipments this week.

"With the pull-back in investment, the big problem for BHP and Rio, judging from this quarterly production, is what to do with all the money," Mr McCarthy said.

"They don't want to invest in their own projects, so there are capital initiatives coming in this space if this dynamic continues."

BHP tends to stick to a policy of progressive, gradually-increasing dividends so share buybacks might occur.

The production report was generally well received, with Goldman Sachs' Craig Sainsbury saying BHP appeared to be "sweating its assets hard" to maximise production at a time of cutting costs instead of growth.

"It will be interesting to see what it means in terms of tangible cost savings when it comes to their half and full year (financial) results," he told AAP.

The major negative was petroleum production, which produced 235.8 million barrels of oil equivalent (mboe), missing its target of 240 million barrels.

It blamed energy giant BP without naming it, saying said the target was missed because of maintenance and drilling delays at its offshore Gulf of Mexico assets that the British company and not BHP operates.

Petroleum is a high priority as the company's second highest earner with a large chunk of its capex - $US4.8 billion - spent on its onshore US shale assets during the year.

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Woman sues yakuza boss over protection

A WOMAN is suing the head of Japan's biggest yakuza organised crime group, seeking a refund of protection money paid to gangsters threatening to torch her bar.

The plaintiff is claiming Kenichi Shinoda bears "employer's liability" as the don of the Yamaguchi-gumi because the mobsters were affiliated to his syndicate, broadcaster TBS said on Wednesday, in what is thought to be the first case of its kind.

She is demanding around 17 million yen ($A186,312)in compensation and reimbursement for payments she was forced to make to protect her bar in the central city of Nagoya, the broadcaster said, citing her legal representatives.

The woman says she paid 30,000-100,000 yen per month between 1998 and 2010 to a member of Inabaji Ikka, a local yakuza group connected to the Yamaguchi-gumi, Kyodo News said.

On one occasion in 2008 when she tried to refuse to pay she was warned that her bar could be burned down, Kyodo said.

The Yamaguchi-gumi makes up more than 40 per cent of the nation's organised criminals, with about 27,700 members, according to the National Police Agency.

The plaintiff, whose name has not been made public, argues Shinoda bears ultimate responsibility for her losses as head of the nationwide umbrella organisation of gangster groups.

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NZ dollar edges up on weak inflation data

THE New Zealand dollar edged up as the lowest annual pace of inflation in 14 years gave the Reserve Bank of New Zealand room to keep interest rates on hold.

The NZ dollar rose to 78.28 US cents at 5pm from 78.08 cents at 8am and 78.14 cents on Monday. The trade-weighted index rose to 74.35 from 74.26.

Government figures showed the consumers price index rose at an annual 0.7 per cent pace in the June quarter, the lowest level since 1999. It's the fourth quarter inflation has been below the central bank's target band of between one per cent and three per cent.

Cheap imported petrol has kept a lid on general inflation, and pressure on housing-related prices hasn't seeped into general price rises.

"Our forecast is for the Kiwi dollar to be lower over the next year, and we have to factor in the dampening impact of the tradable sector is not going to be there," said Chris Tennent-Brown, FX economist at Commonwealth Bank of Australia in Sydney.

"There's not really too much (in the CPI) to change people's expectation for the RBNZ."

The next major event for traders will be Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke's semi-annual testimony to the House of Representatives on July 17 and 18.

The local currency fell to 85.39 Australian cents at 5pm from 85.90 cents on Monday after minutes to the Reserve Bank of Australia's July 2 meeting said a weaker currency and previous rate cuts meant the 2.75 per cent interest rate level was still appropriate.

The minutes still left the door open for a future rate cut. The Australian dollar rose to 91.65 US cents at 5pm from 91.07 cents on Monday.

"Some people must have been looking for the RBA to be slightly more dovish than that," Tennent-Brown said.

The Kiwi rose to 78.09 yen from 77.57 yen. It was little changed at 59.87 euro cents from 59.77 cents on Monday and increased to 51.82 British pence from 51.67 pence.

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Liberals critical of new SA education boss

THE opposition has accused the South Australian government of a "knee-jerk" decision to appoint a former senior police officer to head up the education department.

Opposition Leader Steven Marshall said it seemed incredible that somebody with no background in education and "not a day's teaching experience" was now running education in SA.

"Would the police accept having a teacher as their new police commissioner?" he said on Tuesday.

"I don't think they would."

Mr Marshall's comments followed the appointment of former assistant police commissioner Tony Harrison on Monday to replace Keith Bartley, who only took on the top education post in 2011.

Mr Bartley has quit for personal reasons and will return to the United Kingdom.

His resignation comes just two weeks after the release of a damning report on his department's handling of a school child sex abuse case.

The report found education officials were incompetent in how they dealt with the case and were responsible for a string of failures, including not informing parents for two years of the arrest of a school worker on sex charges.

Premier Jay Weatherill defended Mr Harrison's appointment describing him as a highly-credentialled leader in the public service.

He said Mr Harrison's previous experience was particularly relevant to the challenges facing the education department at present.

"At this particular point in history there's a need to reassure the community about the protection of children and their safety and he will fulfil that role," the premier said.

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Court date marks eight-year NT nuke fight

The eight-year anniversary of a fight to stop a NT nuclear dump was marked with a court appearance. Source: AAP

FOR Dianne Stokes, it was fitting that the eight-year anniversary of a fight to stop a Northern Territory nuclear dump was marked by a brief and frustrating court appearance.

Ms Stokes, an elder with the Yapa Yapa people, is one of the traditional land owners taking action to stop the federal government dump proposal, which is earmarked for Muckaty Station.

She was present on Monday when the Federal Court heard a delay in an anthropologist's report may push back a 2014 trial date.

Ms Stokes says the traditional land owners' complaints to the government had for years fallen on deaf ears.

"It's been a long struggle, many years of struggling to say we didn't want the waste to come to our land when no one is listening," she said outside court in Melbourne.

But she said new Resources Minister Gary Gray had agreed to visit the site and meet

community members - a move she welcomes.

"We're going to try to hassle him until he comes down," Ms Stokes said.

"It's a spiritual country, it's a cultural land and it's a very strong belief we have in that county."

The waste dump was originally planned to be built in South Australia, but in the face of local opposition the federal government sought to relocate it to the NT.

A site at Muckaty Station, about 110km north of Tennant Creek, was flagged as a possible site.

Australian Conservation Foundation spokesman Dave Sweeney said Mr Gray's visit was a step forward in the conflict, but that it signalled a "change in tone, not necessarily a change in policy".

Mr Gray declined to comment.

The parties will return to the Federal Court for another directions hearing in August.

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