A MAN has been arrested in connection with the shooting deaths of two brothers in country Victoria.
The bodies of sheep farmers Douglas and John Streeter, both aged in their late 60s, were discovered at their Natte Yallock property, near Avoca, by a family member on Thursday night.
Police arrested a 30-year-old Bendigo man on Saturday in connection with the deaths.
He was then taken to the Royal Melbourne Hospital with non-life threatening injuries.
A MAN who died after an explosion at a unit complex in south Brisbane had reportedly been helping residents evacuate.
The 52-year-old man died at the scene of the explosion in Beenleigh around 9.15pm (AEST) on Friday from a medical condition unrelated to the incident, reported to be a heart attack.
The unit's sole occupant, a 47-year-old man, remains in a critical condition at the Royal Brisbane Hospital with severe burns to most of his body.
It's believed the explosion was caused by gas bottle, but police are yet to determine if it was deliberately lit or an accident.
Police Inspector Geoff Palmer said the man who died had initially helped to evacuate residents from the complex before being overcome and suffering a heart attack, Fairfax Media reports.
A police spokeswoman said residents had been given emergency accommodation, as several units were damaged.
"The whole building rocked, I thought a plane had hit the unit," one resident told The Courier-Mail website.
It's not yet known when the displaced residents will be able to return to their homes.
A report for the coroner is being prepared.
A MEDIA officer was told not to release information about a NSW coal exploration tender without checking with then minister Ian Macdonald because it was to be kept "low profile", documents show.
One of the sites up for tender, an area in the NSW Hunter known as Mount Penny, is under investigation by the Independent Commission Against Corruption.
Mount Penny is at the centre of claims that Mr Macdonald, along with former NSW minister Eddie Obeid and his family, stood to gain millions from the alleged rort of the tender process.
Documents tabled in parliament reveal Department of Primary Industries media officer Jenny Ward was approached by the ABC for details about expressions of interest received by government.
In an email to Ms Ward dated November 25, 2008 - the day after expressions of interest closed for 11 coal release areas around the state - a senior department adviser instructed her to "seek advice from the minister's office" before releasing any information about the process to media.
"I understand that the minister's office wishes this EOI to remain low-profile," the email's author, Julie Moloney, wrote.
The email was copied to Brad Mullard, who is now the executive director for mineral resources at the Department of Trade and Investment.
The email is among hundreds of pages of documents that were never volunteered when the NSW parliament called for papers relating to the tender in 2009, but were later uncovered by ICAC investigators.
They were tabled in parliament late on Thursday.
The Parliamentary Privileges Committee will now look at the documents and decide whether to take further action, including whether the matter should be referred back to the ICAC.
The ICAC will begin the next stage of its months-long inquiry, Operation Acacia, on Monday.
Acacia will examine the circumstances surrounding an exploration licence at another site, Doyles Creek.
Among those listed as witnesses in this segment of the inquiry are Jamie Gibson, Mr Macdonald's former chief-of-staff, and Mr Mullard.
THIEVES have struck for the second straight year at the annual Sculpture by the Sea event on Perth's Cottesloe beach.
A piece called "Childhood - Morning" from the famous "Red Memory" series by China's Chen Wenling was stolen from the exhibition last year after being snapped off at the ankles.
A spokeswoman for the event organisers said two components from a 30-piece sculpture were stolen on Sunday.
The two small components were valued at $320 each, she said on Friday.
The sculpture was still on display, but being brought in overnight.
The matter had been reported to Cottesloe police, she said.
DEPUTY Opposition Leader Julie Bishop has called for Prime Minister Julia Gillard to be referred to the powerful privileges committee over comments she made about radio presenter Michael Smith.
Ms Gillard told parliament in November last year that Mr Smith was "the man who was sacked for wanting to defame me".
She said he was behind Ms Bishop's line of questioning about the prime minister's involvement in the Australian Workers' Union slush fund affair.
Mr Smith's right of reply letter to these comments were read into Hansard on Thursday morning.
"It is untrue that I was sacked," his letter stated.
"I resigned from Fairfax Media (radio 2UE).
"It also is false that I wanted to defame the prime minister."
Under the rules for right of reply for people outside of parliament, the committee does not treat the reply as a judgment on the truthfulness of either of them.
"While Mr Smith has been given the right of reply and a certain degree of natural justice ... I believe the committee should be given the opportunity to judge the truth of the statements at issue made by the prime minister to the parliament," Ms Bishop told parliament on Thursday.
She asked Speaker Anna Burke to determine whether a prima facie breach of privilege had occurred that should be referred to the privileges committee.
Ms Burke said she would consider the matter.
DOCUMENTS relating to the tender for a mining licence at Mount Penny don't appear to have been included in a file produced to the upper house in 2009, NSW parliament has been told.
The Parliamentary Privileges Committee will now examine whether the material was deliberately withheld as part of an attempted cover-up.
"This is an extremely grave matter," said Legislative Council president Don Harwin.
"We now appear to be faced with the possibility that one of the orders of the house was not complied with.
"It is ultimately for the house itself to determine whether its order has been complied with and the consequences that flow."
Operation Jasper is investigating whether Labor's former mining minister Ian Macdonald rigged a 2008 tender process for coal exploration licences at Mount Penny to benefit Labor powerbroker Eddie Obeid.
The upper house first made a call for papers on the alleged deal in 2009, when Mr Macdonald and the head of the Department of Industry and Investment, Richard Sheldrake, presented to parliament one box of privileged papers and one box of non-privileged papers.
Greens MP Jeremy Buckingham sparked concerns in December last year that some key documents were missing.
Advice was then sought from the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC), currently investigating the alleged deal as part of its inquiry into the state's largest-ever possible corruption case.
In a letter Mr Harwin read to the house on Thursday, Commissioner David Ipp said: "The commission has now completed that exercise." The letter said a commission officer had catalogued the documents produced in the response to the order for papers, and then compared that list with the relevant exhibits tendered during Operation Jasper.
"The commission officer then created a document comparison matrix listing the documents considered to be possibly relevant to the order for papers, but which do not appear to have been included in the production to parliament ... ," it said.
"The commission does not propose to take any further action in relation to this matter unless parliament wishes it to do so."
Mr Harwin said the matter would now go to the privileges committee.
"As your president I regard the privileges and powers of this house as matters of vital importance," he said.
"It is essential that this matter be dealt with in a way that upholds the dignity, role and powers of this house."
The Privileges Committee will now look at the documents contained in the ICAC comparison and consider further action, including whether it should be referred back to the watchdog.
Adam Giles (pic) has rolled Terry Mills as chief minister of the Northern Territory. Source: AAP
ADAM Giles is the Northern Territory's new chief minister after securing the numbers to roll Terry Mills while he was overseas on a trade mission.
Mr Giles, who was the NT's transport minister, becomes Australia's first indigenous head of government after his second challenge to Mr Mills' leadership in less than a week.
It is understood Mr Giles took the leadership 11 votes to five during a meeting of the parliamentary wing of the Country Liberal Party (CLP) in Darwin on Wednesday afternoon.
CLP president Ross Connolly told ABC TV it was "unusual and disappointing" that Mr Mills, who is in Japan, had to learn by phone that he had been dumped as leader.
Mr Connolly said Mr Giles had confirmed it had happened after a "substantial shift in alignment" in the parliamentary party in the past 24 hours or less.
He said Mr Giles had sworn his colleagues to secrecy but the news leaked.
"There has been quite consistent leaking and what have you," Mr Connolly said.
"It is disappointing that it was released because I think it was Adam's intention to await Terry's return to ensure a more orderly transition.
"But clearly the information got out in a manner that Adam would not have been happy with."
Mr Connolly said if the numbers were solid it "boded well for a steady future".
THE NSW opposition has accused the O'Farrell government of locking young people out of Sydney's housing market by ending the first home owner grant and dumping stamp duty exemptions.
Speaking in parliament, shadow treasurer Michael Daley said housing finance for first home buyers had fallen to its lowest level in 20 years.
Addressing Treasurer Mike Baird in question time, Mr Daley said: "Will you now accept, treasurer, that your government has locked young people, particularly young people in western Sydney, out of the housing market?"
He called on the government to reverse the removal of the $7000 first home owner grant and the dumping of stamp duty exemptions, worth up to $17,990.
Mr Baird rejected Mr Daley's suggestion.
"We have made a huge difference in the housing sector," Mr Baird said.
Opposition Leader John Robertson on Tuesday said data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics showed 988 first home buyer loans were granted in NSW in December.
He said that was down from 1383 in November, and represented a 20-year low.
Police in Bangladesh's capital have clashed with protesters enforcing a daylong general strike. Source: AAP
POLICE in Bangladesh's capital have clashed with opposition protesters enforcing a daylong general strike across the country.
Witnesses and news reports say several homemade bombs also exploded in the early hours of Tuesday's shutdown.
RTV and Bangla Vision stations report explosions in parts of Dhaka, the capital. It was not clear if there were any injuries.
An opposition alliance led by the Bangladesh Nationalist Party is enforcing the strike to protest alleged police intimidation during a rally on Monday. Police later arrested some senior leaders and more than 100 activists in Dhaka.
The party is demanding restoration of a caretaker government system to oversee upcoming elections. Its ally Jamaat-e-Islami wants a halt to trials of several opposition politicians accused of crimes stemming from the country's 1971 independence war.
The federal government will impose tougher environmental checks on CSG and large coal mines. Source: AAP
COAL seam gas (CSG) or large mining projects which could significantly impact on water resources would need federal approval under changes proposed by the government.
Environment Minister Tony Burke will have the power to consider the cumulative impacts on water of new CSG wells and mines under the legislation to be introduced to parliament this week or next.
Water would now act as a trigger in Australia's national environment law, so any potentially harmful projects would need the assessment of an independent expert scientific committee before being approved.
Mr Burke said the community had always thought the government took water into consideration when making decisions about CSG activity, and the changes would bring these expectations into line.
"Realistically, whenever I have made a decision on coal seam gas, the Australian public would expect that we are taking into account all the impacts on our precious water resources," he said.
Until now, the government's only been able to act on water when it comes to threatened species or a RAMSAR wetland.
The coalition warned the move might not be allowable under the constitution, but will wait until the relevant legislation is available before making a final decision on whether or not to support it.
Opposition environment spokesman Greg Hunt said all stakeholders needed to be properly consulted.
"Just as it did with the mining tax, the government has blindsided the energy and resources sector and imposed retrospective rules ... which will have a direct impact on investments," Mr Hunt said in a statement on Tuesday.
But Labor's plan was welcomed by independent MP Tony Windsor, who had called for independent scientific oversight of CSG and coal projects when he made an agreement to support the minority government after the 2010 election.
Mr Windsor said there was significant community anxiety over CSG mining and the risk it could pose to major groundwater systems.
"We need to get the science right," he told reporters in Canberra.
Fellow independent MP Rob Oakeshott said the federal oversight would hopefully replace "immature" planning laws in NSW with a "transparent and defendable planning process".
His electorate of Lyne on the mid-north NSW coast has been a hotbed of anti-CSG protests, with 120 gas wells approved in Gloucester just one kilometre from the world-heritage listed Barrington Tops.
Australian Greens leader Christine Milne said the changes should apply to all CSG projects approved by the environment minister, including the Gloucester development given the go-ahead last month.
The anti-CSG Lock The Gate Alliance said all that was needed now was the political courage to reject projects.
But the Minerals Council of Australia opposed the planned changes, saying they would delay large coal projects and create uncertainty without delivering environmental gain.
Mr Burke said the government did not intend to add to project timeframes and was on Tuesday contacting affected companies to advice them of the changes.
"There's many of those, but a lot of them are at such a preliminary stage you'd have to say the impact on them is negligible," he told reporters.
Mourners gather to pay their respects to high-profile businessman James Strong, who died last week. Source: AAP
JAMES Strong was a bow-tie bikie who lived life at full throttle.
Hundreds of high-profile Australians from the boardroom to the race track to the stage gathered on Monday to remember Mr Strong as an astute businessman, generous philanthropist, arts lover and sports tragic.
The 68-year-old former Qantas chief and Woolworths chairman died on March 3 from lung complications following surgery.
The mourners at Sydney's City Recital Hall included NSW Governor Marie Bashir, Labor MP and musician Peter Garrett, former Reserve Bank of Australia chairman Ian McFarlane and former director of the Art Gallery of NSW Edmund Capon.
Former motorcycle World Champion Mick Doohan told the service that he first met Mr Strong at Eastern Creek Raceway in the mid 1990s and the pair soon became firm friends over a shared love of the sport.
"He lived life at full throttle and he was the only bow tie bikie I knew," Doohan said.
His son Sam Strong said his father, who grew up on a farm in Lismore, was a great listener and a voracious reader who had a particular love of Shakespeare's Hamlet.
"There was more than a little of a poet trapped inside a businessman's body," he said.
He said he and his brother Nick could not recall their father ever raising his voice and he was a fiercely attentive listener who always made time for them.
Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce paid tribute to Mr Strong's work in transforming the airline during the 1990s.
"With the airline heading into its biggest transformation since it was founded in 1920, this was the hardest job in aviation, and one of the toughest in corporate Australia," he said.
"How James succeeded was a lesson in leadership."
Mr Joyce said he also valued Mr Strong's insight when he returned to Qantas as a director in 2006.
"He was a true gentleman but also a fighter; an opera buff and a rev-head; mountain climber and bookworm: businessman and dreamer," he said.
"He was both tough and smooth and always a class act."
Woolworths chief executive Grant O'Brien said the supermarket giant would be passing on Mr Strong's words of advice on listening, treating people equally and acting with grace and dignity to its future recruits.
"I though Woolworths bought out the best in James because it was a way for him to connect with thousands of Australians," he said.
A FOUR-YEAR-OLD boy bashed to death by his mother's boyfriend told his grandmother, "(He) hurts me, nanny", just weeks before his death, court documents show.
The little boy's plea of, "(He) hurts me" and "(He) holds me down in the bath", sparked efforts by his grandparents to alert the Department of Community Services (DoCs) and the police to his plight.
But no official action was taken and the boy died about five weeks later after the man hit him a number of times to the head while bathing him on April 1, 2011.
There were emotional scenes in the Supreme Court in Sydney on Monday when the man, 24, who cannot be named for legal reasons, pleaded not guilty to murdering the boy, but guilty to his manslaughter.
The boy's mother sobbed in the stand as she described how she watched her son fall to his knees and how she initially lied to police about what happened to him.
On the evening of her son's death, her boyfriend had been coming down from amphetamines when he insisted on being the "father figure" and bathing the little boy after he wet the bed, she told the court.
An agreed statement of facts tendered to the court also showed the mother had been smoking cannabis earlier that day, while the boy had been suffering from a urinary tract infection exacerbated by her accidentally giving him undiluted fruit juice.
"(The man) was aggravated. Anything could make him spark, crack," the mother told the court.
While he was bathing the child, she said she heard four bangs coming from the bathroom.
"(I heard the man) saying after each bang, '...stop it'," she said, adding he sounded, "angry, agitated".
When she looked into the bathroom, she said she saw the child standing there.
"(He) took a step towards me and fell to his knees," she said through her tears.
After she dried the boy off, she asked him if he wanted his pyjamas, but he said, "No mummy, it's too hot", she said.
"He was really hot to touch. He was glassy eyed," she said.
The man then told her to "f*** off" and she went downstairs, she added.
"I was scared ... because of the previous physical violence to each other," she said.
A few minutes later - after the man had returned downstairs - he went back up to check on the child and then called for the mother to come quickly.
The little boy appeared blue, was lying on his back with his eyes closed and had "four red dots" on his forehand, the woman said.
"All I could do was scream out his name," she said.
The boy died later at Warren Hospital, with doctors finding he died as a result of multiple injuries, including severe head injuries. He had also inhaled water prior to his death.
The court heard the boy had been taken to hospital four days before his death suffering from a nose injury, black eyes and a cut to his forehead.
After his death, additional recent injuries were discovered on his body.
When the little boy stayed with his grandmother in February 2011, he told her, "(the man) hurts me, nanny", and "(He) hurt me and holds me down in the bath", the statement of facts said.
"The (grandparents) attempted to air their concerns about his welfare with the Department of Community Services and the police, but ultimately no official action was taken," the facts said.
Justice Elizabeth Fullerton asked the woman, "Did you know your son had told your mother within a short time of his death that (the man) had held him down in the water?"
"Yes," the mother replied.
The man's sentence hearing will resume on April 5.
AN elderly woman who was missing overnight has been found dead in a northern NSW canal.
The 76-year-old was last seen by a family member at her home in The Mainbrace at Yamba about 2.30pm (AEDT) on Saturday, police said.
A search was started after she was reported missing.
Her body was found in a canal near her home about 9.15am on Sunday.
Police are not treating the death as suspicious.
CUSTOMS has intercepted a boat carrying 18 suspected asylum seekers northwest of Christmas Island.
The boat was spotted on Saturday by an RAAF maritime patrol aircraft.
"Initial indications suggest there are 16 passengers and two crew on board," Home Affairs Minister Jason Clare said in a statement on Sunday.
The passengers will be transferred to Christmas Island, where they will be subjected to security, health and identity checks.
