Two die in separate SA road crashes

TWO people have died in separate crashes in South Australia.

A male motorcyclist died after crashing on Waterloo Road near Manoora in the state's mid-north just after 2pm (CDT).

Earlier, a person died after losing control of their car in a fiery crash at Nuriootpa in the Barossa Valley, north of Adelaide.

The car veered off the Sturt Highway, crashed through a fence and caught on fire about 11.40am (CDT).

Motorists are advised to expect delays on that section of the highway.

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Indonesia official says he'll let boats go

A SENIOR Indonesian immigration official says he will no longer take measures to stop asylum seekers attempting to take boats to Australia as the fallout over the spying scandal continues.

The comments, from the head of immigration at the Law and Human Rights Agency in Medan, come as asylum seekers in Cisarua, south of the Indonesian capital of Jakarta, say they hope to take advantage of the breakdown in co-operation with Australia and may take boats in the coming days.

Several Sri Lankan asylum seekers told AAP they had read reports of a diplomatic crisis, in the wake of revelations Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's phone was bugged by Australian spies, and said they were desperate to try to make the crossing to Christmas Island soon.

However, eight Afghan asylum seekers, also in Cisarua, said on Saturday they were no longer interested in paying people smugglers to take them to Australia.

The head of immigration at the Law and Human Rights Agency in North Sumatra, Rustanov, who has only one name, said surveillance efforts aimed at stopping boat traffic would be halted.

"We have no business with Australia. Let boat people head there. No surveillance is needed," he said, according to a report in the Jakarta Post.

The official said his office, in co-operation with police, had in the past frequently arrested asylum seekers attempting to take boats.

"Now there is no need to waste energy arresting them," Rustanov said.

However, a senior official with the Yogyakarta immigration office, Tatang Suheryadin, said no new policy had been applied following the Indonesian government's decision to suspend co-operation on anti-people smuggling efforts.

"The Immigration Director General at the Law and Human Rights Ministry has not issued any instructions on the issue," Mr Tatang said.

West Java police chief Suhardi Alius said his office was waiting for instructions from the National Police regarding the handling of asylum seekers.

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Govt warned not to be hasty on pension age

SENIORS, welfare groups and unions want age discrimination and adequate superannuation to be addressed before any increase in the pension age is considered.

A Productivity Commission report has suggested lifting the pension age from 65 to 70 to help Australia cope with an ageing population.

But Treasurer Joe Hockey was quick to deny the government was considering the move.

"We have no plans to change the age," a spokeswoman for the treasurer told AAP.

Commission chairman Peter Harris says population growth and ageing will affect labour supply, economic output, infrastructure requirements and governments' budgets.

"The best time to develop policies that address the inescapable implications of demographic change is while the transition is in its infancy," he said in the report released on Friday.

The report estimates a pension age of 70 would save $150 billion between 2025/26 to 2059/60 in today's dollars.

But National Seniors chief executive Michael O'Neill says it is naive to believe simply raising the pension age will boost productivity.

"Older Australians want to work but no one will hire them," he said in a statement.

"Lose your job at 50 and the odds are stacked against you getting another one."

Age Discrimination Commissioner Susan Ryan agreed, saying lifting the pension age would serve no social or economic purpose if people were forced onto unemployment queues.

"Such a change should only be considered when we have eliminated age discrimination from the workplace," she said, adding that about two million Australians over 55 were willing to work but could not find employment.

Australian Council of Trade Unions president Ged Kearney said if the government wanted to reduce budget pressures as the population aged, it should strengthen the superannuation system.

"A strong superannuation system lets ordinary workers retire with security and quality of life and takes pressure off the pension system."

The Australian Greens said the government should be ensuring big business and the mining sector were paying their fair share to help care for all Australians as they aged.

"Raising the pension age again without proper examination would be a knee-jerk reaction," Greens Senator Rachel Siewert said.

But business believes the commission's proposal is a sensible response to increased life expectancies.

"As major contributors to taxation revenue, businesses have an interest in containing the growth of government spending associated with the ageing population," Australian Industry Group chief executive Innes Willox said.

The commission also proposed an "equity release scheme" for older Australians who own their own homes, to help pay for health and aged-care services.

The scheme would mean those who own their homes contribute half of the annual real increased house value to the government, which would help cut government spending by about 30 per cent.

Retirement Living Council executive director Mary Wood said the recommendation had "significant merit" as accommodation requirements changed with age.

"Downsizing to retirement villages in particular should be encouraged, not penalised," she said.

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ACT to sell its betting agency

The ACT government has announced plans to sell its betting agency ACTAB as early as next year. Source: AAP

AUSTRALIA'S smallest government-owned gaming business is to be sold because the ACT can't inject the cash needed to make the ailing betting agency competitive again.

The ACT government on Friday announced ACTTAB will be sold off, possibly as early as next year after a study by PricewaterhouseCoopers outlined a compelling case for the sale of the business with just over 100 staff.

Treasurer Andrew Barr says the government hopes to conduct a competitive bid process to achieve a fair and reasonable sale price after getting the agreement of the ACT Legislative Assembly next week.

Mr Barr would not nominate a likely sale figure.

ACTTAB continues to turn a profit but has reported declining revenues in recent years as it is too small to operate as a standalone business.

Mr Barr said ACTTAB needed a capital injection that could not come from the territory budget.

Technology had fundamentally changed the business, as had the arrival of aggressive corporate bookmakers such as Tom Waterhouse.

The most active punters were now males aged 25-35 who did most of their betting on smartphones rather than in shopfronts.

"The smallest TAB in the country is simply not in a financial position to compete with businesses on an international scale," Mr Barr told reporters in Canberra.

ACTTAB reported $1 million profit last year, down as the organisation turnover has progressively sunk to around $100 million.

The profit partly offsets the government's $7 million support for the ACT racing industry.

The successful bidder will need to show how it would support the local racing industry.

Mr Barr said there would be job losses among ACTTAB's staff, two-thirds in administration and the rest in the shopfronts.

The legislative assembly is likely to agree to the sale, when it was flagged earlier this year the opposition said it was well overdue.

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Vic killer's sentence 'unprecedented'

A Victorian court has heard Sarah Cafferkey's murderer is facing an "unprecedented" sentence. Source: AAP

A VICTORIAN double murderer is serving a jail term of "unprecedented magnitude" by being denied the chance of parole, a court has heard.

Steven James Hunter, 47, has been sentenced to life with no parole for the stabbing death of Sarah Cafferkey in November last year - his second murder conviction along with a string of other serious crimes.

Hunter is the first murderer in the state's history to plead guilty at the earliest opportunity and still be sentenced to life without parole.

His barrister Tim Walsh pressed that point while arguing before the Court of Appeal on Thursday, saying his client deserved to be given a chance at parole in 30 to 35 years.

"It's a momentous step," he said.

"The refusal to set a non-parole period is not warranted in this case."

He told the Court of Appeal's president Justice Chris Maxwell and Justices Phillip Priest and Paul Coghlan that the sentence was one of "unprecedented magnitude" because of the early guilty plea.

But Crown prosecutor Peter Kidd said there was no reason a judge had to impose a sentencing discount just because someone decided to admit their guilt.

He said sentencing needed to take into account many factors, from community protection to prior convictions.

"He's a danger to the community in the future," Mr Kidd said.

Mr Marsh argued it would be nearly impossible to know if Hunter would be a risk decades from now.

Hunter, who was not in court for the appeal bid, killed Ms Cafferkey in his Bacchus Marsh home and stuffed the 22-year-old's body in a bin before filling it with concrete.

She was killed 11 days after Hunter's parole had ended for kidnapping and assaulting a man.

Hunter told police upon his arrest he should be locked up until he died, but then lodged the appeal against such a sentence.

He first killed in 1986, when he stabbed work colleague Jacqueline Mathews lit her body for rejecting his sexual advances.

In sentencing Hunter with no parole option in August, Supreme Court Justice Kevin Bell said the murder was in the worst category of the most serious of murder cases.

"The community, especially young women, need protection from your propensity for extreme violence," he said.

The Court of Appeal reserved its decision for a date to be fixed.

Ms Cafferkey's family attended Thursday's appeal hearing.

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Vic premier says no tolls on Eastern Fwy

Denis Napthine says there won't be tolls on the Eastern Freeway when the East West Link is built. Source: AAP

THE Victorian government has promised there will be no tolls on Melbourne's Eastern Freeway under stage one of the East West Link, although the second stage may have them when it is built.

Premier Denis Napthine says tolls will apply to the East West tunnel, but there will be no wider tolls for stage one of the project.

"We will not apply tolls to anything other than the new East West tunnel and potentially to stage two when it is built," Dr Napthine told reporters on Thursday.

The government hopes to begin construction on stage one of the project, which will connect the Eastern Freeway to Melbourne's western suburbs, in 2014 and to have it finished by 2019.

Stage two would connect the Port of Melbourne to the Western Ring Road.

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Beer market a no-brainer for Coke boss

COCA-COLA Amatil boss Terry Davis says it was a "no-brainer" for his company to get back into the Australian beer market given there is a billion-dollar profit pool currently dominated by just two major players.

Coca-Cola Amatil (CCA) was restricted from selling beer in Australia for two years after SAB Miller bought Fosters, and along with it the Coke maker's share of a joint venture beer business, in 2011.

Mr Davis said the structure of Australia's market was ripe for a third player to challenge the foreign-owned duopoly of Lion, which owns Tooheys, and Fosters, which owns Carlton United.

"The beer market in Australia is a billion-dollar profit pool," Mr Davis told an American Chamber of Commerce lunch in Sydney.

"There are only six markets in the world that have more than a billion-dollar profit, so it's an untapped market.

"And it's a duopoly - like many things in Australia.

"We are a land of duopolies and those two duopolists make 30 to 35 per cent margins.

"Of course the retailers selling those products don't make anywhere near that."

Mr Davis said CCA's extensive distribution network, which includes pubs and bottle shops, and its technology platform provided an opportunity for the company as a third force in the market, making and selling international beers.

So we saw the opportunity of a third player given our pervasive distribution setup, given our technology platform to be able to make and sell international beers.

"That's been a market that's grown at double-digit rates for the last seven or eight years so it's a no-brainer," he said.

CCA has the rights to distribute beers from North American brewer Molson Coors and US craft beer Samuel Adams, among others.

"We'll have a bit of fun over the next three or four years," Mr Davis said.

CCA's beer ban ends on December 17, 2013.

Mr Davis also said he had recently taken a group of investors through Indonesia, which is an important market for CCA.

Australia's relationship with Indonesia is at a tense point politically at present following media revelations of spying by Australian intelligence agencies on Indonesian government officials.

Mr Davis did not comment on the political situation but highlighted the opportunities that exist in the Indonesian market.

"We were lucky enough to have some of the government ministers present to us," he said.

The ministers had spoken about the "demographic bonus" of Indonesia, where about half of the population - 125 million people - are under 29 years of age and 60 million of those people were not yet old enough to be earning, spending and consuming.

"That demographic bonus is going to continue on for another 20 years because Indonesia is not slowing down in its growth rates," Mr Davis said.

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Indo suspends people smuggling cooperation

INDONESIAN President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono says he is suspending cooperation with Australia on people smuggling in the wake of recent spying revelations.

The president also said on Wednesday that he would continue to demand an official explanation from Australia about revelations that Australian spies targeted his mobile phone in 2009.

"I am still waiting," Dr Yudhoyono said on Wednesday.

The president said he would send a letter of demand to the Australian government, requesting an official apology and an explanation from Prime Minister Tony Abbott.

Indonesia will also suspend all military cooperation with Australia, the president said.

MORE TO COME

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Transport the key in lead up to Vic poll

Victoria's opposition says its transport plan will create 10,000 construction jobs. Source: AAP

TRANSPORT is shaping as the key battleground for Victorian voters as Labor vows to rip up 50 of Melbourne's worst level crossings and the coalition attacks the plans as a con job.

Labor plans to sell the long-term lease on the Port of Melbourne to fund its $6 billion project to get rid of the most dangerous and congested level crossings.

If elected, it will also pledge $300 million in its first budget to begin work on the $9 billion Metro Rail tunnel, as part of a transport vision it says will remove the worst bottlenecks and create at least 10,000 jobs.

Opposition Leader Daniel Andrews says the project is an alternative to the government's East West Link but Labor will not tear up contracts if the coalition signs them before the November 2014 election, meaning the toll road plans remain if Labor wins.

Premier Denis Napthine attacked Labor's project as a con job on Victorians which will condemn the state to decades of congestion.

"Labor has failed to commit to one new tram, one new train, or a single new bus. Labor will condemn us to decades of gridlock and frustration on the roads," he said.

The $9 billion Metro Rail tunnel is to be built with a third of funding from Labor, a third from the private sector and a third from the Commonwealth.

Before winning government, Prime Minister Tony Abbott denied being open to funding urban rail, instead promising $1.5 billion for the coalition's East West Link.

Labor's plan relegates any new railway lines to Doncaster and Melbourne airports until after the Metro rail link is built.

Dr Napthine says Labor is over-optimistic in its hope for $6 billion for the sale of the Port of Melbourne.

"It is a second-rate con job. They have made the western suburbs suffer ... congestion, overcrowding and grid-lock on the West Gate Freeway and bridge. It is totally unworkable and unacceptable.

"Mr Andrews suggest he can do it (remove level crossings) for $120 million (each), he's dreaming."

The Victorian Trades Hall Council backed the plans, but the Greens say Labor put roads ahead of public transport, killed off Doncaster rail and backed the East West toll road.

Public Transport Users Association president Tony Morton said the level crossing removal is overdue but Labor's position on the East West Link is weak.

He said Labor needed to tell contract bidders it was doing all it can to prevent the contracts proceeding and the "mad" waste of money from going ahead.

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Swisse to create 120 new jobs in Victoria

Swisse Wellness will expand its offices in Melbourne, creating 120 office and construction jobs. Source: AAP

MORE than 120 office and construction jobs will be created in Victoria with the expansion of a Melbourne supplements and vitamins company.

Swisse Wellness is extending its Melbourne operation and is expected to increase its workforce from 90 to about 220 as part of the five-year project.

The company has just signed a licence deal with global healthcare company PGT Healthcare, allowing it to break into the US market.

Victorian Premier Denis Napthine said the deal would create jobs and have an economic benefit for the state.

"This will have an immediate result for creating more jobs in Melbourne and Victoria," Dr Napthine said on Tuesday.

Swisse Wellness chief executive officer Radek Sali said the government had helped to engage overseas partners and grow the company's export market.

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MacTiernan husband fined by magistrate

THE husband of federal MP Alannah MacTiernan has avoided a criminal record despite pleading guilty to mishandling more than $1400 of client's money at his former law practice.

Derek Schapper, 62, was fined $2000 and granted a spent conviction after pleading guilty to the amended charges at Perth Magistrates Court on Monday.

The charge related to funds which had been accrued over several years in a trust fund managed by Schapper that was intended to pay stamp duty.

When WA's laws changed in 2008, Schapper was left with about $4200 in the fund which he could not account for.

Unsure what to do with the money, Schapper moved it first to two clients' accounts, and then into his own bank account.

Chief Magistrate Steven Heath was told it had since been concluded that just over $1400 of the money was illegally transferred by Schapper - and if not for his confession, authorities would never have been aware of the offence.

Schapper's lawyer Hylton Quail said since the offence came to light, Schapper had been suspended from practising law, and had effectively retired from practice.

But he did want to continue to volunteer his legal services in the future.

"This has been a very public and self-inflicted fall from grace," Mr Quail said.

And Magistrate Heath agreed the offence had arisen from the annoyance of attempting to reconcile the trust account, rather than for personal gain.

"It is unfortunate a practitioner of your standing and experience should have made such a foolish mistake over such an annoying and trivial matter," he said.

Outside court, Schapper said he was glad with the outcome, while also managing to have a swipe at his wife's long-time political rival Don Randall, who was recently embroiled in controversy surrounding MP's expenses claims.

"I would like to think I was setting an example (by admitting wrongdoing) and that perhaps Don Randall should follow, but that is up to him," Schapper said.

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Shops damaged in Sydney's north

A NUMBER of people have been injured at a shopping centre in Hornsby in Sydney's north after stormy weather smashed glass panes, toppled trees and reportedly collapsed a ceiling.

Firefighters and ambulance paramedics responded quickly on Monday afternoon to what is being described as a mini-tornado that hit the Westfield shopping centre near the Pacific Highway.

Police told AAP there had been black-outs in the shopping centre and reports of roof damage.

There were reports a cinema ceiling had collapsed and the centre was being evacuated.

Callers told Macquarie Radio they heard loud bangs in the shopping centre, saw debris flying and large trees down and there were reports of cars tipped over in car parks.

A NSW Fire and Rescue spokesman told AAP that firefighters were using handsaws to go through the debris to see if anyone was trapped.

"A roof has collapsed in one of the cinemas," he told AAP.

The spokesman said the shopping centre had been evacuated.

Paramedics have also been deployed to a library in Hornsby and a demountable building near the railway station.

The spokesman said the demountable had been blown off its foundations.

An Ambulance Service of NSW spokesman said while there was certainly damage, there was no information yet on patient numbers.

A witness, James, who lives near the shopping centre told ABC radio he heard a big roaring sound just before 3pm (AEDT).

"I wasn't really sure what it was, it sounded like a cyclone or something," he said.

"So I ran to my back window and I could see all this debris spiralling up in the air like rubbish and stuff.

"It went over pretty quickly but shortly after I just heard nothing but sirens."

Another witness, Angela, told ABC radio she saw debris going up into what looked like a mini-tornado.

"That went over across the shopping centre and I could see some roofing material, looked like long bits of guttering going up into the sky over the shopping centre," she said.

"So I think it was mini-tornado."

It only last 10-20 seconds, she added.

Paramedics took 12 people to Hornsby Hospital following the wild weather.

An Ambulance Service of NSW spokesman said crews were sent to the shopping centre, the library and the railway station.

At the library a 19-year-old woman was treated for shock, and at the station, where a demountable building had flipped, five people were treated, including a man who sustained multiple cuts to his head.

Six patients were treated at the shopping centre for minor injuries.

The spokesman said a 50-year-old woman had cuts to her head and neck after being hit by shards of glass.

Sam Gibbons, 19, who works at a fast food outlet in the shopping centre told AAP he and his colleagues were forced from the building in the middle of their shift.

"There was a mini tornado thing that came through, some loud bangs, power went off," he said.

A glass dome in the shopping centre's roof also cracked and fell, he said.

Mr Gibbons and his fellow workers face a long night of cleaning up.

"We can't leave the shop in a mess," he said.

Fire and Rescue NSW Assistant Commissioner Jim Hamilton told Macquarie Radio a cinema ceiling in the shopping centre had collapsed but no one was inside at the time.

The nearby Hornsby Inn suffered significant roof damage.

SES spokeswoman Sue Pritchard said the SES received 20 calls in about 20 minutes from residents around Hornsby at about 3pm (AEDT).

Ms Pritchard said the Bureau of Meteorology had confirmed to her a "mini-tornado" had hit the area.

A spokeswoman for the Westfield Group told AAP that customers, acting on advice from authorities, had been moved out of the centre but Westfield was told shortly afterwards not to evacuate.

"The centre is not trading and is operating on emergency power," the spokeswoman said.

The Pacific Highway was closed in both directions between Bridge Street and Coronation Street in Hornsby due to a fallen tree, the NSW Transport Management Centre said in a statement.

Traffic lights were also out because of power black-outs and motorists were being advised to use George Street as an alternative route.

The wild weather also brought down a large tree on the railway lines between Asquith and Hornsby but train services have since been restored.

Walkway roofs and various buildings at the Hornsby railway station have also been damaged.

A Sydney Trains spokesman confirmed the people injured in the demountable building at the railway station were Sydney Trains staff.

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Bill Glasson to run for LNP in Griffith

FORMER Australian Medical Association president Bill Glasson will have a second crack at winning the Brisbane seat vacated by former prime minister Kevin Rudd.

The inner south electorate has long been one of Labor's safer seats but Dr Glasson's grassroots campaigning before September saw him beat Mr Rudd before preferences were dished out.

The ophthalmologist attracted a 5.5 per cent swing, reducing Mr Rudd's winning margin to three per cent.

The by-election will be a revealing snapshot of the mood of Queensland voters after several months of the Abbott government.

The odds however are again stacked against Dr Glasson.

Only once has a federal government gained a seat from an opposition at a by-election and that was the Kalgoorlie by-election of 1920.

Labor is yet to announce who their candidate will be but employment and IR lawyer Terri Butler has emerged as front runner.

The first possible date for a by-election is December 21 but it is most likely to be held early next year.

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Protesters brave rain for climate change

THE federal government was "sacrificing the planet for politics" by not taking stronger action to combat climate change, a rally in Sydney has been told.

Thousands of protesters, many in plastic ponchos or huddling under umbrellas, braved wild weather in Sydney's Prince Alfred Park on Sunday to call for stronger action on climate change.

Organised by social activist group GetUp!, the rally is one of more than 100 similar events throughout the country, with a total of about 50,000 people expected to take part.

"Today is a challenging period in our political history. It's a time when our government is sacrificing our planet for politics," GetUp! campaigns director Erin McCallum told a crowd carrying placards with slogans such as "Aim higher on climate", "Turn up the heat, choose solar power" and "Hands off our carbon tax Abbott".

"The government might have turned climate change into a political football but they weren't counting on us to play ball," Ms McCallum said.

Police estimated between 3500 and 5000 people were at the Sydney event.

Deputy federal opposition leader Tanya Plibersek said the government needed to get back to basics on climate change.

"Australia is going backwards, the rest of the world is going forwards accepting that climate change is real and accepting that we must act," Ms Plibersek told the crowd, receiving applause.

"Australia can't go backwards in the face of global action.

"Is climate change real? Yes. Was climate action working? Yes."

The rally also heard from firefighters concerned about more fire danger from hotter temperatures, the Greens, and former resources executive Ian Dunlop.

Benson Koschinksi, 18, who attended the event, said the federal government's climate policy wasn't good enough.

"It's probably the effectiveness of farting in a typhoon," he told AAP.

"Around the world we're seeing action but here we've got a leader who's axing credible climate policy."

Australian Youth Climate Coalition spokeswoman Amy Gordon said the group urged the government to "show leadership and not go backwards on the issue of climate change policy".

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