Call for release of Liberal donation audit

AN audit of Liberal Party donations in the wake of damaging slush fund allegations needs to be released publicly, the NSW opposition says.

The call comes after another political head rolled this week as the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) probed party donations.

Police Minister Mike Gallacher resigned from his plum role on Friday after he was implicated in a Liberal Party slush fund scheme.

It was two weeks after Barry O'Farrell resigned from the state's top job over an undeclared, gifted bottle of wine.

NSW Liberal party director Tony Nutt is leading an audit into the party's political donations.

But Opposition Leader John Robertson says the results need not be only for Liberal eyes.

"Tony Nutt is a political operative from way back," he told reporters on Saturday.

"Tony Nutt is someone who has been involved in the activities of the Liberal Party for years and years and years.

"The only way someone can have confidence in that audit is if it is publicly released so everyone can see the process that was put in place to look at these donations."

Mr Robertson, whose own party was dragged through the mud after adverse ICAC findings over coal mine approvals, said he understood why people would question the motives of every politician in NSW.

He said he wanted to work with Mr Baird to put an end to what was playing out at the ICAC.

"I want to see Mike Baird not simply talk tough but the steps to end the scandal and put in place measures that are going to give the public confidence," he said.

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TV veteran Efrem Zimbalist Jr dies aged 95

EFREM Zimbalist Jr, the son of famous musical parents who established his own name in the long-running television series 77 Sunset Strip and even the even longer running TV hit The F.B.I., has died at age 95.

Zimbalist died on Friday at his Solvang home in California's bucolic horse country, said family friend Judith Moose, who released a statement from his children, actress Stephanie Zimbalist and her brother, Efrem Zimbalist III.

"We are heartbroken to announce the passing into peace of our beloved father, Efrem Zimbalist Jr, today at his Solvang ranch," it said.

"He actively enjoyed his life to the last day, showering love on his extended family, playing golf and visiting with close friends."

Zimbalist's stunning good looks and cool, deductive manner made him the ideal star as the hip private detective ferreting out Hollywood miscreants in 77 Sunset Strip, which aired from 1958 to 1964. As soon as that show ended he segued seamlessly into The F.B.I. which aired from 1965 to 1974.

At the end of each episode of the latter show, after Zimbalist and his fellow G-men had captured that week's mobsters, subversives, bank robbers or spies, the show would post photos from the FBI's real-life wanted list.

Some of the photos led to arrests, which helped give the show the complete seal of approval of the agency's real-life director, J. Edgar Hoover.

Zimbalist was the son of violin virtuoso Efrem Zimbalist and Alma Gluck, an acclaimed opera singer.

Young Efrem studied the violin himself for seven years under the tutelage of Jascha Heifetz's father, but he eventually developed more interest in theatre.

He became an actor, and 77 Sunset Strip made him a celebrity.

His daughter also took up acting - and small-screen detective work - in the 1980s TV series Remington Steele.

Her father had a recurring role in that show as a con man.

After serving in World War II, Zimbalist made his stage debut in The Rugged Path, starring Spencer Tracy, and appeared in other plays and a soap opera before being called to Hollywood.

Warner Bros signed him to a contract and cast him in minor film roles.

In 1958, 77 Sunset Strip debuted, starring Zimbalist as a cultured former O.S.S. officer and language expert whose partner was Roger Smith, an Ivy League Ph.D.

The pair operated out of an office in the centre of Hollywood's Sunset Strip where, aided by their sometime helper, Kookie, a jive-talking beatnik type who doubled as a parking lot attendant, they tracked down miscreants.

Kookie's character, played by Edd Byrnes, helped draw young viewers to the show and make it an immediate hit.

The program brought Zimbalist an Emmy nomination in 1959, but after a few seasons he tired of the long hours and what he believed were the bad scripts.

"A job like this should pay off in one of two ways: satisfaction or money. The money is not great, and there is no satisfaction," he said.

When the show faltered in 1963, Jack Webb of Dragnet fame was hired for an overhaul. He fired the cast except for Zimbalist, whom he made a world-travelling investigator.

The repair work failed, and the series ended the following year.

Zimbalist had better luck with The F.B.I., which endured for a decade as one of TV's most popular shows.

Perceiving that the series could provide the real FBI with an important PR boost, Hoover opened the bureau's files to the show's producers and even allowed background shots to be filmed in real FBI offices.

"He never came on the set, but I knew him," Zimbalist said.

"A charming man, extremely Virginia formal and an extraordinary command of the language."

During summer breaks between the two series, Warner Bros cast Zimbalist in several feature films, including Too Much Too Soon, Home Before Dark, The Crowded Sky, The Chapman Report and Wait Until Dark.

In the latter, he played the husband of Audrey Hepburn, a blind woman terrorised by thugs in a truly frightening film.

Zimbalist also appeared in By Love Possessed, Airport 1975, Terror Out of the Sky and Hot Shots.

But he would always be best known as a TV star, ironic for an actor who told The Associated Press in a 1993 interview that when Warner Bros first hired him he had no interest in doing television.

"They showed me in my contract where it said I had to," he recalled.

"I ended up with my life slanted toward television and I just accept that.

"I think you play the hand the way it's dealt, that's all."

In the 1990s, Zimbalist recorded the voice of Alfred, the butler, in the cartoon Batman series, which, he said, "has made me an idol in my little grandchildren's eyes."

He was born in New York City on November 30, 1917.

His mother reasoned that living amid the musical elite was not the best upbringing for a boy, so she sent him to boarding schools where he could be toughened by others his age.

But young Efrem was bashful and withdrawn in school. His only outlet was acting in campus plays.

"I walked onstage in a play at prep school, and with childish naivete, told myself, 'Wow, I'm an actor!'" he once recalled.

He was kicked out of Yale after two years over dismal grades, which he blamed on a playboy attitude.

Afraid to go home, he stayed with a friend in New York City for three months, working as a page at NBC headquarters, where he was dazzled by the famous radio stars.

Unable to break into radio as an actor, he studied at the famed Neighbourhood Playhouse.

During World War II he served in the infantry, receiving a Purple Heart for a shrapnel wound in his leg.

In 1945, Zimbalist married Emily McNair and they had a daughter, Nancy, and son, Efrem III.

His wife died in 1950, and he gave up acting to teach at the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia, where his father was an artist in residence.

After five years he returned to Hollywood. He married Loranda Stephanie Spalding in 1956, and she gave birth to daughter Stephanie.

He is survived by his children, four grandchildren and several great-grandchildren.

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COAG wrestles with tax reform

Tony Abbott has put road projects on the agenda for his meeting with state and territory leaders. Source: AAP

A CHANGE to the GST distribution and a proposal to enable states to levy income tax appear to be doomed after a meeting of the Council of Australian Governments.

The state and territory leaders met with Prime Minister Tony Abbott in Canberra on Friday to discuss two separate reviews due to be completed by the end of 2015, on the federation and taxation.

The premiers also agreed on a deal to receive incentive payments if they sell off assets such as ports and electricity utilities and put the money into new roads and other infrastructure.

The meeting came a day after the national commission of audit called for the federal government to consider giving the states greater responsibility for raising revenue through an income tax surcharge.

The audit report also called for GST revenue to be shared on an equal per-capita basis, with the commonwealth providing an additional grant so no state is worse off.

Currently, the grants commission each year shares out GST revenue based on the performance of each state and territory.

Making his first comments on the income tax plan, Prime Minister Tony Abbott said he did not think "anyone should assume that is a likely outcome".

"No one wants to see double taxation," he said.

The premiers, who held a joint press conference with the prime minister, were at odds over moving to a population-based GST distribution.

Tasmanian Premier Will Hodgman, attending his first COAG, said he would be standing up for his state in arguing for the status quo.

South Australian Premier Jay Weatherill backed up his Liberal colleague saying every Australian was entitled to the same level of service wherever they lived.

West Australian Premier Colin Barnett said it was not "beyond the wit" of the state and federal leaders to reform the GST.

"We should do it in a way where change occurs over time," he said.

Summing up the debate, Mr Abbott said: "No one should assume radical change is coming."

However he backed the principle that "the people who spend the money, raise the money".

All governments signed an agreement on incentive payments for privatising assets and reinvesting the money in new projects.

Mr Abbott said the broad details of the plan will be revealed in the federal budget on May 13 and individual agreements would be negotiated with the states.

The state leaders welcomed the agreement, but Queensland Premier Campbell Newman echoed the thoughts of his colleagues when he said his government would need another mandate before assets could be sold.

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Pension age to rise to 70 in 2035: Hockey

Treasurer Joe Hockey has confirmed plans to lift the pension age to 70 in 2035. Source: AAP

AUSTRALIANS born from 1965 will have to wait until they turn 70 before being eligible for the age pension, federal Treasurer Joe Hockey has confirmed.

But even more immediately, Australians who visit the doctor are likely to have to make a $6 co-payment, and retired politicians might have to live without some of their entitlements.

In his last major speech before the May 13 budget, Mr Hockey vowed there would be no "accounting tricks".

Instead, the budget would be based on solid, realistic assumptions.

"It will be the budget we were elected to deliver," he told the Australia Israel Chamber of Commerce in Melbourne on Friday.

The treasurer justified the need for an increase in age pension eligibility, saying it gave people time to get their financial arrangements in order.

Opposition Leader Bill Shorten was dismissive, telling reporters: "We don't believe the way to get the budget doing better is by attacking the vulnerable, the poor and the sick."

Age Discrimination Commissioner Susan Ryan believes the government must address as a high priority the needs of older people wanting to work now.

"We need to address age discrimination," she said in statement, adding the treasurer's plan provided a window of opportunity to change employer attitudes, social infrastructure and training programs.

Mr Hockey also said the budget would not be asking Australians to pay for entitlements politicians receive but would never get themselves.

Earlier, he declined to confirm talk that retired politicians would lose their "gold pass" for travel.

As well, the government should only do for people what they cannot do for themselves "and no more".

In his strongest indication yet about a Medicare co-payment, Mr Hockey said government services were not "magically free" and a contribution to their delivery seemed a logical and equitable step.

"There is no such thing as a free visit to the doctor," he said.

The National Commission of Audit, in its report to the government, recommended a $15 charge after 15 visits.

While Mr Hockey has said the government will wait until the budget before responding to the commission's 86 recommendations, his leader has been more forthcoming.

Prime Minister Tony Abbott ruled out abolishing a commonwealth scheme that subsidises freight transport between Tasmania and the mainland.

Retailers are starting to worry about talk surrounding a deficit levy or higher income tax rates.

Myer boss Bernie Brookes says the department store is prepared for a potential drop-off in consumer spending following the budget.

Nevertheless it was getting "pretty good" at working through such events, citing the global financial crisis as an example.

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Book ends 'history wars', says Reynolds

THE "history wars" fought over Tasmania's past should come to an end with the release of a new book, historian Henry Reynolds says.

The Black War, by the University of Tasmania's Nicholas Clements, puts to bed the debate over the violence between Aborigines and European settlers, Prof Reynolds believes.

The so-called history wars erupted in the 1990s when conservative academic Keith Windschuttle described much of the history written about the period a "fabrication".

Launching the new book in Hobart, Professor Reynolds said those arguments had been proved wrong by evidence uncovered by the author.

"He has produced the evidence to basically discount most of Windschuttle's arguments," Prof Reynolds told AAP.

"It is on a depth of research that is almost unprecedented."

Prof Reynolds said the book provided the perspective of a new generation, and a descendant of Tasmania's early settlers.

Dr Clements' ancestors settled in Tasmania's north, and one was possibly involved in the war against Aborigines in 1824-31.

"(His generation) don't have the same angst about the politics of history, particularly of racial history," Prof Reynolds said.

"In a way, he is able to see both sides and not try and use the material for current political arguments.

"In that sense, it has got above the history wars."

Dr Clements said he had aimed to show how the war had affected those on the ground so readers could empathise with both sides.

"We believe it settles a number of questions that were up for debate in the history wars," he said.

"It systematically contrasts black and white perspectives; it cannot be a polemic by definition."

Tasmania's Black War was sparked not only by white settlement, but also by the rape and abduction of Aboriginal women and children, Dr Clements says.

It was characterised by guerilla tactics on both sides; Aborigines attacked during the day and settlers hit campsites at night.

Dr Clements says about 600 Aborigines probably died on the eastern frontier he studied, and there were 223 recorded deaths of Europeans.

"It was the most intensely violent frontier conflict in Australian history," he said.

"It was also the most evenly matched."

Thousands more Tasmanian Aborigines died from the other effects of colonisation, and the war ended when 200 survivors were exiled to Flinders Island.

Dr Clements says more should be done to remember those who died.

"I think (how that's done is) more up to Aboriginal people," he said.

"There's also the really tricky question of if and how we commemorate the European dead.

"A number of them didn't ask for this. They were out here for trivial offences.

"I think demonising them is extremely misleading and unhelpful."

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Markets unmoved by audit report

ECONOMISTS were unsurprised by the commission of audit report and say measures in it are unlikely to hurt economic growth in the short term.

The National Commission of Audit report contained 86 recommendations aimed at saving the budget up to $70 billion annually.

The recommendations were focused on the spending side of the budget ledger rather than the revenue side, and there was no mention of the rumoured debt levy.

The mooted spending cuts focused on health, the ageing and education.

National Australia Bank senior economist David de Garis said such measures should not hurt economic growth in the near future.

"You've got the infrastructure spending, which will kick in, but in time," he said.

"So that will provide support for the economy while there are other government spending cuts.

"I don't think it's a big issue for local interest rate markets or the Australian dollar."

There was almost no reaction the release of the audit report on currency markets, with the Australian dollar hovering between 92.85 US cents and 92.90 cents after the report's release on Thursday.

The Australian stock and bond markets also showed little reaction.

Commonwealth Bank chief economist Michael Blythe said the report was in line with expectations.

"We've had plenty of hints - means testing, co-payments and government removing itself from various areas where the private sector is better placed to deliver," he said.

"We've been given what we've been told to expect."

Mr Blythe said there is nothing in the report that should change the economic growth or interest rate outlook over the next year or two.

"When you compare their business as usual case with their reform scenario what stands out is you don't actually have to do much over the next three or four years," he said.

"It's only when you get to years three and four that's when the big ramp up in spending starts and when you've got to start to delivering the big savings as well.

"So for the short term outlook, if this is the basis for the budget it's probably not too damaging and one that probably doesn't change the Reserve Bank of Australia's outlook as well."

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Land shortages driving up housing prices

A shortage of land in Australia's capital cities is driving up housing prices, a report shows. Source: AAP

A SHORTAGE of available land for housing in Australia's capital cities is driving up prices.

The Housing Industry of Australia (HIA) and RP Data say the volume of land sales in the final three months of 2013 fell 1.8 per cent, while median land prices rose 4.2 per cent to the highest level in the survey's history.

HIA's senior economist Shane Garrett said the figures show that there is a serious supply shortage for the residential land market.

"For the second consecutive quarter, we have seen turnover in the market decline while at the same time lot prices have shown significant increase," he said.

"Policy makers have to act quickly to ensure that the supply of land is boosted. Doing so will greatly improve the chances of sustaining the recovery in residential construction."

The HIA-RP Data Residential Land Report also found that the median residential land value for Australia's six state capital cities rose 22.3 per cent in calendar year 2013.

RP Data research director Tim Lawless said the falling land supply combined with the upturn in the housing market would hurt housing affordability.

"With vacant land prices continuing to rise at a time when volumes have moved lower we can surmise that demand is exceeding supply which, in turn, drives prices higher," he said.

"With housing affordability coming increasingly under the spotlight, an improvement in the flow of land supply would be a welcome scenario."

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Newsreader Ian Ross dies aged 73

Retired Australian news presenter Ian Ross has died at the age of 73 after a battle with cancer. Source: AAP

TRIBUTES have flowed from across the television industry for former news presenter Ian Ross, who was known as one of the good guys of the business.

The long-time newsreader for the Nine Network and later Seven died overnight aged 73.

Ross, who was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer before Christmas following a routine blood test, died on the Gold Coast overnight surrounded by family and friends.

Nine chief executive David Gyngell said the Australian television industry had lost "one of our best and bravest in the sad passing of Ian Ross".

"Roscoe is the good guy who always finished first. That he was universally loved by his peers in as tough and competitive an industry as television news says it all. What's more, his wide audience also thought the world of him.

"Ian was a lovely man - warm, generous, hilarious, a great, loyal friend to all his colleagues and the ultimate professional. He will be sadly missed. I extend our deepest condolences to Ian's family and his partner, Gray."

Ross worked at Nine for 38 years, including a decade as the newsreader on morning program Today, before switching to the Seven Network.

He read the nightly news in Sydney for Seven before taking off his mike for the last time in 2009.

Seven chief executive Tim Worner said Ross left an impression wherever he went and his death would be felt throughout the industry.

"Ian Ross was a champion bloke," Worner said in a statement.

"Newsrooms bring out the best of characters and Roscoe was one of the best of the best.

"Everyone who had the opportunity to work alongside Roscoe during his 50-year journalistic career will remember him with tremendous affection."

Ross began his media career in 1957 at Sydney radio station 2GB before switching to 2MW Murwillumbah on the far north coast of NSW, where his tasks included writing advertising scripts to hosting his own program.

He ended up back in Sydney in 1961 in 2SM's newsroom, and he got his big break in TV in 1965 as a reporter with Nine.

After seven years at Nine, Ross headed to London in 1972 for a couple of years with the now-defunct television wire service UPITN before returning to Nine in 1974.

In 2003, Ross left Nine to head Seven's 6pm news bulletin in Sydney until 2009.

Ross is survived by his partner of 22 years, Gray Bolte, his ex-wife, three children and eight grandchildren.

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WA paving company fined over deception

A PERTH paving company and its director have been fined a total of $20,000 for falsely advertising a business as a member of the Master Builders Association (MBA).

Realgold Corporation, trading as Repave Spray-On Paving, and its director Peter Vukmirovic were each ordered to pay $10,000 in the Perth District Court last week.

They were convicted of making false and misleading representations by placing an MBA logo on more than 500 newspaper advertisements when their membership was not current.

The business had been a member of the MBA since February 2006 but its membership lapsed in October 2010 when the company failed to renew it.

The advertisements featuring an MBA logo were published in a metropolitan and several suburban newspapers in Perth from April 2011 to February 2012.

Commissioner for Consumer Protection Anne Driscoll said the use of the MBA logo was deceptive.

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Plane catches fire at Perth Airport

A PLANE has made an emergency landing at Perth Airport after a suspected engine fire erupted shortly after take-off.

The Cobham Aviation flight landed safely after the mid-air incident on Tuesday, a Perth Airport spokeswoman confirmed.

Witnesses have reported seeing the flames coming from the right engine.

The Perth Airport website shows that a Cobham Aviation flight was scheduled to depart at 10.45am for Barrow Island.

Pictures have emerged on social media of a plane with an engine appearing to be on fire, but it has not been confirmed as the plane involved in the emergency.

The aircraft is currently being assessed at the airport.

Cobham operates aircraft on behalf of Qantas regional subsidiary QantasLink.

A spokesman for the regional carrier said a statement would be issued later on Tuesday.

Cobham Aviation Services said the engine fire occurred soon after take-off and that the four-engine BAE 146 jet was bound for Barrow Island.

A spokesman said the pilot and crew safely returned the jet to Perth Airport at 10.53am (WST).

"The aircraft was climbing after take-off when the fire occurred in engine No.2, which is on the inner port side of the aircraft," he said.

"When the fire was detected, the engine was shut down and the fire extinguished.

"There were no injuries among the 92 passengers or two pilots and three cabin crew."

The incident is being investigated and regulatory authorities have been informed, the spokesman says.

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Survivor's tale of terror at Bindoon

The royal commission will continue in Perth, and will focus on Christian Brothers-run residences. Source: AAP

A SURVIVOR of severe sexual and physical abuse at a Christian Brothers boys institution in Western Australia says the orphanage was "devoid of love" and run by men who believed the children were born of the devil.

John Hennessey has told the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses into Child Sexual Abuse that when he was 12 he was publicly stripped and nearly flogged to death by a Christian Brother while at St Joseph's Farm and Trade School, Bindoon.

"No one came to my aid," said a visibly upset Mr Hennessey, the first witness at the 11th case study examined by the commission.

"I am now left with a stutter."

The man who beat him, Brother Paul Keaney, also repeatedly sexually abused Mr Hennessey.

When Mr Hennessey - who later became deputy mayor of Campbelltown, NSW - was first brought to Australia at age 11 he was told he would be able to ride kangaroos to school and there would be lots of fruit.

"From the time I arrived at Bindoon, there was no love," he said.

"I realised there was no kangaroos, there was no fruit."

The Christian Brothers said they wanted to make a man out of him.

"'We don't want you to grow up as Satan's children,'" Mr Hennessey said he was told.

Instead boys were passed around between brothers at the home for sexual gratification.

Boys were forced to sleep on an outdoor concrete veranda. The brothers would also eat lavish food, while the boys were forced to eat porridge and bread dipped in dripping.

"I would do anything and let anyone do anything to me, just for a feed," Mr Hennessey said, becoming visibly upset.

"It made me steal, it made me feel ashamed and angry.

"I was exploited and abused by criminals safe in knowing that the state government and church were my legal guardians and would never bother to meet their responsibilities."

Mr Hennessey repeatedly broke down during his evidence, at one point declining to read out a paragraph detailing one aspect of his abuse.

As he spoke, sobs could be heard from the rear of the room.

Mr Hennessey did not see his mother for 57 years after he was forcibly removed from Bristol, England, for Australia.

The order changed his name and reduced his age by three years, making it extremely difficult to locate his mother. He eventually met her six years before she died.

He said for years he thought of Brother Keaney as a father but he lived in constant fear of the beatings - usually meted out with specially made leather straps with bits of metal sewn in.

Boys at the school were also forced into hard labour and a complex network of gangs sprang up, created by religious brothers picking favourite boys "as pets".

"Every day was a fight for survival," Mr Hennessey said.

Boys at the school would also sexually abuse each other, he said.

Mr Hennessey eventually received about $45,000 from Redress WA, a state government scheme set up to recognise the harm suffered by children in the homes.

But he said changes to the scheme to reduce the maximum amount paid to victims to $45,000 from $80,000 left him feeling betrayed.

The hearings continue.

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Disaster relief funding to be reviewed

THE federal government wants to use disaster relief funding more effectively.

It has asked the Productivity Commission to look into how relief money is spent in the aftermath of cyclones, bushfires and the like.

Releasing the terms of reference on Monday, Justice Minister Michael Keenan said the human and economic costs of natural disasters are soaring.

The government needs to be proactive, not reactive, to future crises.

That may mean, for example, looking at whether destroyed roads will be rebuilt to the same standard.

However, the review will not consider cutting disaster relief funds.

"This is not about saving money. This is about making sure the money we do spend is being spent in the most effective way possible," Mr Keenan told reporters.

The commission will deliver its report by the end of the year, with a draft due in September.

Queensland's Community Recovery and Resilience Minister David Crisafulli didn't want to speculate on whether the review would jeopardise the state's 25/75 split with the federal government for funding natural disaster repairs.

But he said no government in the nation's history has done more to mitigate against natural disasters than Queensland.

"As well as a betterment fund, to not just rebuild assets but replace them with stronger ones, we've embarked on flood mitigation projects across the state," he said.

"This should be recognised and rewarded."

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