Qld miners want coal royalties indexed

THE Queensland resources sector is pleading with the state government to index any increases in coal royalties to stop projects becoming unattractive to miners.

Since the start of October, royalties increased from 10 per cent to 12.5 per cent for every tonne of coal sold between $100 and $150 a tonne.

Coal sold for more than that price attracts a 15 per cent royalty, under changes unveiled in the September budget.

Queensland Resources Council chief executive Michael Roche said coal royalty increases needed to be indexed for inflation.

"Because we've now got three levels of royalties ... the old bracket creep that income tax payers are so familiar with will apply to coal companies and their royalties," Mr Roche told reporters in Brisbane.

"So unless the thresholds or those royalty rates are indexed, then more and more of the coal price will edge up into the higher rates, so the tax rate will grow and grow.

"If they don't address this issue, new projects will look more and more unattractive."

The royalty increases are forecast to raise $1.6 billion over four years, but Mr Roche said indexing it with headline inflation would only be a "very small haircut for Treasury".

Mr Roche said he had had meetings with Treasurer Tim Nicholls since the budget.

"We've had a good hearing. We understand that Treasury's doing its analysis," he said.

"We wait with baited breath for hopefully a positive outcome."

The new 10-year tax regime came into effect on October 1.

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NZ hospital wards closed over virus

ELDERLY patients in two wards at Auckland City Hospital in New Zealand remain in isolation after an outbreak of the highly contagious norovirus.

Last week three wards were closed in attempt to control the spread of the virus but one ward has since reopened and 11 people released from isolation.

A hospital spokesman told AAP on Tuesday evening that the number of people who had contracted the virus had shrunk from 13 to 11 over the past few days.

But 22 patients remain in isolation.

Earlier this month a ward at Auckland's Middlemore Hospital was closed after an outbreak of the bug with almost 140 showing symptoms.

Tauranga Hospital has also dealt with a recent outbreak.

The virus can cause nausea, diarrhoea, vomiting and abdominal pain.

Auckland District Health Board's executive director of nursing Margaret Dotchin earlier said the hospital was implementing standard infection control measures to prevent further spread of the virus to patients and staff.

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Corrupt council officials could be charged

NINE people could face criminal charges after a major investigation uncovered a culture of corruption among NSW's local councils.

The state government will also examine legislative changes after the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) published the findings of its four-year probe into bribery and kickbacks by officials.

ICAC made adverse findings against 21 council staff and one NSW Roads and Traffic Authority (RTA) employee after they accepted gifts in return for handing out public contracts.

Those gifts included vouchers, holidays and electronic goods such as iPads and mobile phones.

There were also adverse findings against 15 staff at private supply firms who offered the gifts.

Five council staff were named in the report for filing fake invoices in return for cash payments totalling hundreds of thousands of dollars.

"It appeared that these benefits were provided as a secret reward to public officials for ordering goods, ordering greater quantities of goods or continuing to order goods from these suppliers," ICAC said.

Nine of the 41 people named in the report will now have their cases referred to the public prosecutor, with a view to criminal charges being laid.

They are being referred to the prosecutor either as a direct result of the corruption, or for giving false evidence to ICAC's public hearings.

ICAC's investigation began in 2008 after a single tip-off from Bathurst Regional Council.

It rapidly expanded to take in staff at 88 local councils, 22 government agencies and the three private supply firms.

That number was whittled down to what was essentially a specimen caseload of 14 councils and the RTA (since renamed Roads and Maritime Services).

The 14 local authorities included City of Sydney, City of Botany Bay and Liverpool City Council, all of which employed staff guilty of taking bribes, according to ICAC.

It singled out two former storemen, Geoffrey Hadley of Bathurst Regional Council and Kerry Smith of Yass Valley Council, who are said to have issued false invoices to their employers in return for cash kickbacks.

"Under this scheme, Mr Hadley and Mr Smith received combined corrupt payments in excess of $323,000," ICAC said.

ICAC put the cost to Bathurst and Yass councils as a result of the rorts at about $1.5 million.

Responding to the findings, acting Deputy Premier Andrew Stoner foreshadowed changes to the law.

"The government will respond in terms of closing any loopholes in our local government legislation that has enabled this to occur in the past," he told AAP.

ICAC also made 15 recommendations to the local councils to reduce the likelihood of corruption in future.

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SA bikie probably thrown off cliff: police

A FINKS bikie gang associate who claimed he fell was probably thrown off an Adelaide cliff after being assaulted somewhere else, police say.

The 26-year-old Happy Valley man was found by walkers at the base of the cliff at Marino, in Adelaide's south, at 8am (CDT) on Saturday, Superintendent John de Candia said on Monday.

"This person was conscious at the time, but unable to move, and stated that he had fallen from the top of the cliff, which is a fall of about 30 metres," he said.

The man, who had fractures and face injuries, was taken to the Flinders Medical Centre with injuries which were not life-threatening.

Superintendent de Candia said blood was found on the path hear the railing at the top of the cliff.

"We will be alleging that he was thrown from the cliff. We believe he had been assaulted at another location."

The Crime Gangs Task Force is also investigating a vehicle which was reported stolen and found burnt out at Clarendon on Saturday morning.

The 2005 Silver Peugeot hatchback, registration CC255H, is linked to the Happy Valley man.

Police said the incident was believed to be related to an internal dispute within the Finks.

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Australians sick of Labor saga: Abbott

LABOR and the opposition seem united on one front: they think Australians are sick of hearing about the ousting of former prime minister Kevin Rudd.

Trade Minister Craig Emerson says he has "zero" interest in a book, Tales from the Political Trenches, by former Labor MP Maxine McKew that details Mr Rudd's removal.

The book includes a written response from Mr Rudd about how he felt when his deputy Julia Gillard replaced him as prime minister.

On Sunday News Ltd revealed Mr Rudd felt "betrayed" and "let down" because Ms Gillard and Treasurer Wayne Swan gave no indication of their intentions on the evening before the coup.

Opposition leader Tony Abbott suggested Labor should be given a stint in opposition to sort out their internal problems.

"I think the public are sick of the soap opera," Mr Abbott told reporters in Canberra.

"The Labor Party leadership is a soap opera and the only way to end the soap opera is to change the government."

Dr Emerson refused to weigh in when asked on Sunday about the latest chapter in the 2010 ousting saga.

The minister said he had no interest and suspected the Australian public felt the same.

"My interest in that book is zero. That's the truth of it," Dr Emerson told Sky News on Sunday.

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Six dead in Philippines bus crash

A BUS has slammed into a wall surrounding a house after its brakes failed while negotiating a downhill curve killing six people and injuring 43 others in the central Philippines.

Police investigator Celso Makidato says the impact hurled the bus conductor out of the vehicle in the accident on Saturday night in Cebu province's Toledo city. All the casualties were from the bus, including the driver, who was arrested.

Makidato told The Associated Press on Sunday that a passenger bus also lost its brakes and crashed into the same house a year ago in an accident that left 15 people dead.

Many accidents in the country are blamed on poorly maintained vehicles and roads and inadequate driver training.

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Brawny burglar cut by elderly man

POLICE are looking for a muscular burglar who was badly injured when an elderly Brisbane homeowner confronted him with a knife.

They say the brawny man was stabbed in the stomach while leaving the property at Kenmore, in Brisbane's west.

The robber, believed to be in his 30s, broke into the Gilruth Street house around 8.30pm (AEST) on Friday.

Inside, he was confronted by the male owner who was carrying a knife.

The burglar fled but was injured in the stomach as he forced his way past the man, police said.

"Due to an amount of blood located at the scene, police believe this man needs urgent medical attention," they said in a statement.

"He is likely to have a noticeable injury to his lower front or side torso."

Police are investigating whether the bandit is linked to other burglaries in the area.

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Philippines storm toll rises sharply

THE death toll in the Philippines from Typhoon Son-Tinh rose sharply to 24 on Saturday as casualty reports from isolated central islands and the far-flung south flooded in, the government said.

Drowning and landslides were given as the cause of 11 deaths on small islands in the country's mid-section, the national disaster council said in its latest tally.

The other 13 victims were carried away by flash floods, buried by landslides, hit by falling trees and flying debris, electrocuted, or died from exposure to the cold, it added.

The official death toll from the typhoon, which was classed as a weaker "tropical storm" when it passed over the Philippines, had stood at six on Friday.

Eight fishermen from the central and southern Philippines remained missing at sea, the government agency said.

Rescuers are also still searching for a man believed buried in a landslide on the main southern island of Mindanao, it said, adding that more than 15,000 people displaced by the storm are still sheltering at government buildings and receiving disaster aid.

Food and other forms of aid were given to nearly 40,000 people who chose to remain at home or temporarily moved in with relatives or friends, it added.

The Philippines endures about 20 major storms or typhoons each year, mainly during the rainy season between June and October.

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Gillard dismisses claims of Maxine McKew

PRIME Minister Julia Gillard says she won't be revisiting the saga of how she came to power in June 2010, despite claims from a former Labor MP that she was a "disloyal deputy" to Kevin Rudd.

Rumblings over the Labor leadership have been given a nudge with the publication of former MP Maxine McKew's book, Tales from the Political Trenches.

Ms McKew describes Ms Gillard as being "disloyal" to Mr Rudd, saying internal party polling that was critical of the then prime minister was shopped around to caucus members before the June 2010 coup.

Ms Gillard has previously asserted that she only made up her mind to challenge on the day she walked into Mr Rudd's office.

She told reporters on Friday that it was history.

"I've actually dealt with all of these issues before on the public record, and I'd just refer you to that," Ms Gillard said.

"I haven't got anything to add."

Ms McKew writes that six weeks before Mr Rudd lost the leadership, Labor frontbencher Anthony Albanese had warned him to watch his back because Ms Gillard was gunning for him.

The former ABC journalist also says another Labor minister, Brendan O'Connor, a supporter of Ms Gillard, had shown research to fellow frontbencher Robert McClelland.

Mr O'Connor has denied the claim.

"She's a very experienced journalist," Mr O'Connor told the ABC.

"You would think if she was going to make an assertion about my conduct she'd give me the opportunity to respond to confirm or otherwise that assertion. She did not."

Mr McClelland, who was dumped from the frontbench by Ms Gillard, said on ABC radio on Friday he had had a conversation at the time with Mr O'Connor.

"I recall he showed me that material," Mr McClelland said.

"Obviously I don't know who else he spoke to, but certainly I can recall him showing me material of that nature.

"I have spoken to other people ... who were shown similar material."

Opposition Leader Tony Abbott said Ms McKew had "credibility".

"This isn't Tony Abbott saying you can't trust this prime minister - this is a staunch Labor person saying you can't trust this prime minister," Mr Abbott told the Nine Network.

The book will be published next week.

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Renewable energy target to remain stable

AUSTRALIA'S existing renewable energy target for 2020-2030 should be retained, the Climate Change Authority has recommended.

The authority released a discussion paper on Friday recommending the fixed large scale renewable energy target of 41,000 gigawatt hours (GWh) per annum remain unchanged.

The authority's preliminary view was that the existing large scale renewable energy target should not be changed.

The benefits of any change at this time, either an increase or decrease, would be outweighed by the costs of increased regulatory uncertainty, the discussion paper said.

Increasing the target was unnecessary in the context of a sufficient carbon price.

The authority said the small-scale renewable energy scheme should continue to operate without a long-term gigawatt hour target, and that the price cap should remain at $40."

The paper called for another review of the target in 2016 and every four years after that.

The long-scale scheme should remain separate from the short-scale scheme, it said.

A final report will be given to Climate Change Minister Greg Combet in December.

Opposition climate action spokesman Greg Hunt said the coalition would consider the recommendations and seek a briefing in December.

The coalition has provided bipartisan support for the 20 per cent renewable energy target by 2020.

Environmental lobby group WWF-Australia welcomed the recommendation for the renewable energy target (RET) to remain.

WWF spokesperson Kellie Caught said more money was invested in new renewable power globally in the past year than conventional high-pollution energy generation.

"The world is moving towards a clean energy future Australia just can't afford," Ms Caught said in a statement on Friday.

But Ms Caught said WWF-Australia was disappointed the review did not recommend increasing the target beyond 2020 instead of delaying the decision until after another review in 2016.

"Increasing the RET would provide the industry and investors longer-term certainty and give emerging renewable industries incentive," she said.

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