Leighton wins $249m coal mine contract

Leighton Holdings has won a $249m contract for work on the Isaac Plains coal mine in Queensland. Source: AAP

CONSTRUCTION giant Leighton Holdings has won a $249 million contract to provide services to the Isaac Planes coal mine in Queensland's Bowen Basin.

The three-year contract includes the operation of a dragline and the supply and maintenance of mobile plant and equipment.

Under the contract, Leighton will employ about 160 people at the mine.

Isaac Plains, a joint venture between Sumitomo Corporation and Vale Australia, is located seven kilometres southwest of Moranbah in Central Queensland.

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AOFM sells $1bn of Treasury notes

THE Australian government has sold $1 billion of Treasury notes that mature on January 24, 2014.

The Australian Office of Financial Management (AOFM), which conducts bond auctions on the behalf of the government, said the notes were sold for a weighted average yield of 2.4688 per cent

The sale attracted bids totalling $2.992 billion, giving a coverage ratio of 2.99.

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Two in court over Sydney shooting murder

TWO men have faced court over the death of a man gunned down while bringing in rubbish bins at his home in Sydney's west.

Ali Jammas, 36, was shot outside his Abbotsbury home on the morning of July 12.

Police arrested 28-year-old Yagoona man Mahmoud Barakat on Wednesday and charged him with murder and possessing or using a prohibited weapon without a permit.

He's also charged with two counts of driving while suspended and not disclosing the identity of his passengers.

David Younis, 29, was also arrested at his Yagoona home and charged with being an accessory after the fact to murder and concealing a serious offence.

Barakat didn't apply for bail when he fronted Bankstown Local Court on Wednesday and it was formally refused.

Younis, whose wife was in court, was granted bail.

The court heard that the prosecution was concerned Younis would intervene with crown witnesses, but his lawyer said there was scant evidence he would do that and he was not a flight risk.

Meanwhile, police say they seized ammunition, prohibited drugs and a ballistic vest during raids through Sydney.

Further arrests are expected.

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Mass crim checks to weed out G20 agitators

MASS criminal background checks will be used to find and remove potential troublemakers living near G20 summit venues in Queensland, the state government says.

Police Minister Jack Dempsey says people living inside special security zones in Brisbane and Cairns will be barred from their homes and given up to $200 to stay elsewhere if they are identified as a risk by federal authorities.

The G20 bill, passed by the state parliament late on Tuesday, approved payments covering accommodation for those with a criminal background, plus their dependents.

It also includes a lengthy list of items prohibited in the security zones between November 14 and 17 next year.

Weapons including longbows and slingshots will be banned, but also "reptiles, insects or other animal capable of causing physical harm if released".

Eggs, a bag of flour, manure, kites, surfboards, canoes, kayaks, toy cars and model aircraft are also listed.

Mr Dempsey said background checks would be based on local and international intelligence and would only affect a handful of people.

"We are expecting 99 per cent of people will be able to go freely once they have had their crim history checked," he told reporters on Wednesday.

"If there are people who the authorities think will put the operation at risk, those people will be advised that they will not be able to go into those restricted areas."

Mr Dempsey said people facing possible removal would include past offenders who had not committed a crime in the state.

Australian Council for Civil Liberties president Terry O'Gorman said the removals seemed extreme.

"If you have a conviction for a terrorist offence then that may be a justification," he told AAP.

"But if they have an undefined criminal history and they are moved from their homes for the G20, that is not what the rule of law is as I know it."

Mr Dempsey said officials had used previous G20s in Toronto in 2010 and Russia this year as their guide.

The new laws, which lapse after the summit, make it easier for officers to strip search and arrest troublemakers.

New offences for actions such as disrupting meetings and crossing barriers have also been created.

Mr Dempsey said police could detain people if they had reasonable suspicions a crime would be committed.

"We are making sure that obviously the rights and liberties of the community are protected, in that people will be able to protest but, protest in a way that does not bring fear or apprehension to other people who are here visiting from the G20," he added.

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Australia still needs carbon price: GE

An executive with US energy giant General Electric says Australia still needs a carbon price. Source: AAP

AN executive with US electronics and energy giant General Electric says Australia still needs a carbon price.

The country will miss out on green investments until there is clarity on climate mitigation, GE's vice chairman John Rice says.

"We still believe that over time there needs to be a price on carbon, there will be a price on carbon," he told ABC TV.

"Whatever the outcome is, investors are going to want clarity and a long window with which to see the world, otherwise you're just not going to get the right investments here."

GE is heavily involved in the wind, solar, nuclear and steam power industries, along with jet engines and household appliances.

But Mr Rice said the former Labor government's carbon policy did not have political legitimacy.

"It's clear the legislation that was promulgated wasn't right for Australia, certainly in the eyes of the current government and we certainly support or live with that outcome," he said.

The Abbott government last week released draft laws to repeal the carbon tax, ahead of their introduction to parliament in November.

Mr Rice said he had little understanding of the coalition's policy.

But he does not believe demand will fall for GE's wind turbines.

"Wind is always going to have a place in the portfolio of power generation technology," he said.

"The cost will continue to come down."

Both sides of politics support a mandated 20 per cent target for renewable energy by 2020.

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Kangaroo nearly kills child in Qld

A five-year-old is clinging to life after a kangaroo smashed through a car windscreen in Queensland. Source: AAP

A FIVE-YEAR-OLD child is clinging to life after a kangaroo smashed through a car windscreen west of Brisbane.

Police say the roo and the car collided on the Warrego Highway at Kingsthorpe on the Darling Downs about 3am (AEST).

The five-year-old was rushed to Toowoomba Base Hospital with life-threatening injuries.

Another child and two adults in the car were taken to hospital with minor injuries.

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Adoring NSW fans greet prince and princess

Crown Prince Frederik and Crown Princess Mary have visited the Australian Twins Registry in Sydney. Source: AAP

CROWN Prince Frederik is accustomed to some titles, among them the most popular your royal highness.

But he blushed as he responded to another on Saturday during a visit to the Sydney Children's Hospital.

"Hello gorgeous" is how adoring and self-described royalist Fay Thompson grabbed the Danish Royal's attention before pleading with him for a photo in the hospital driveway.

"I said 'hello gorgeous can I take your picture'," she told AAP.

"For an old duck, that's quite good isn't it?

"He blushed."

Mrs Thompson hoped her granddaughter, who is a patient at the Randwick-based hospital, could have had a glimpse of Frederik and Crown Princess Mary during their visit.

"We got all her equipment and moved it to the window so she could look down but it's hard - she is so tired," Mrs Thompson explained.

Mrs Thompson shot downstairs to snap a photo on her phone to show her 10-year-old granddaughter, who had just undergone a bone marrow transplant.

The Danish Royals spent day three of their Sydney tour with the not-for-profit Australian Twin Registry and the Sydney Children's Hospital.

A small but admiring contingent of predominantly female onlookers gathered outside the hospital entrance to get a glimpse of Princess Mary.

Wollongong twins Charlotte and Lillian Harding, 8, practised their curtsies ahead of their face-to-face encounter with Mary.

The bubbly twins presented her with a bouquet of blooms.

Charlotte said her brush with royalty had left her friends in awe.

"We weren't supposed to tell anyone but we couldn't keep our mouths shut," she said.

Mary, who is mum to twins Prince Vincent and Princess Josephine, has been an international patron with the Australian Twin Registry (ATR) since January.

The registry, which pairs twins and research, has about 70,000 members, or 35,000 twins, with the oldest twin pair aged 97.

In a statement from the registry, Mary said she was proud to be the international patron for both the Australian Twin Registry and Danish Twin Registry.

"Twins are special as I now know as the mother of Vincent and Josephine," the statement read.

"What is perhaps less well-known is the special contribution twins of all ages have made to medical and health research though the Australian, Danish and other twin registries."

Mary and Frederik met the ATR director before they were introduced to twins and parents inside the hospital.

Mother Kristy Pereira said Frederik showed her twins, Kai and Siobhan, 5, photos of his children on his phone.

"(Kai and Siobhan) know they are boy and girl twins like Prince Frederik's as well so they were very excited," she told AAP.

Mary and Frederik left the hospital under a strong police presence, leaving awestricken princess-hopefuls and satisfied royalists in their wake.

Mary and Frederik are in Sydney for the Opera House 40th anniversary.

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Iranian border guards killed in clashes

IRAN'S official news agency says armed men have killed 14 border guards in clashes near the frontier with Pakistan.

IRNA said on Saturday that authorities were investigating to determine whether the attackers were drug smugglers or armed opposition groups, both of which have occasionally ambushed Iranian troops.

The clashes took place on Friday night in a mountainous region outside Saravan, a town in southeast Iran on the border with Pakistan. IRNA said five other Iranian guards were wounded in the attack.

Iran lies on a major drug route between Afghanistan and Europe, as well as the Persian Gulf states.

Ethnic Baluch armed groups also operate in the area.

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We will deliver NDIS: Abbott government

THE Abbott government insists it has no plans to either privatise or unwind the national disability insurance scheme.

But it could allow the National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA) to contract out some administrative functions to the private and not-for-profit sectors.

Treasurer Joe Hockey had raised as "just an idea" the possibility the agencies administering the landmark scheme could be abolished or scaled back with their roles assumed by Medibank Private.

The idea is part of the government's push to streamline service delivery and cuts costs.

Both Labor and the Australian Greens reacted furiously to Mr Hockey's comments.

"We will fight this with every inch of our efforts," Opposition Leader Bill Shorten told reporters in Melbourne on Friday, adding Labor was justifiably proud of the scheme's establishment by the Gillard government.

The Greens suggested a potential transfer of responsibilities to Medibank was code for winding back the NDIS.

Not so, says Assistant Minister for Social Services Mitch Fifield.

"Contrary to Labor scaremongering, the coalition has no plans to privatise or unwind the NDIS," he said in a statement.

The government would honour Labor's announced spending for the scheme's roll-out agreements that were in place between the commonwealth and the states and territories.

But Senator Fifield said new service providers were emerging for the scheme and it may be that Medibank Private chooses to offer services in the market.

"That is a matter for them."

The government says the NDIS will not be exempt from its commission of audit which is examining government operations and finances.

All federal departments and agencies should be open to advice on best administrative practice to ensure services were delivered efficiently and well, Senator Fifield said.

The NDIA board may determine, in light of its launch site experience, that some administrative functions could be contracted out through a competitive process

Jenny Macklin, the former Labor minister responsible for establishing the NDIS, insists it needs an independent authority to look after its delivery.

"Keep your hands off," was her message to the Abbott government as she joined Mr Shorten.

Ms Macklin, now the opposition spokeswoman for disability reform, said the changes could put at risk decades of hard work from people with a disability, their families and carers.

Mr Shorten was scathing of Mr Hockey's "just an idea" comment, saying people with disabilities did not deserve to have their lives disrupted by "ill-thought-out coalition thought bubbles".

"The government needs to realise they're in government now - when they have a thought bubble this affects the security and wellbeing of thousands of Australians."

Senator Fifield said the coalition had enthusiastically supported the NDIS through parliament and was committed to rolling it out.

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Army live-fire drill starts Qld grass fire

AN army live-fire exercise sparked a Queensland grassfire on Monday, the Department of Defence says.

Defence has already admitted that explosives training started the massive State Mine Fire in Lithgow, NSW, last week.

That fire has since scorched 50,000 hectares of land and destroyed three homes.

Defence has now confirmed a blaze at the Wide Bay Training Area near Tin Can Bay, north of the Sunshine Coast, started during a routine live ammunition exercise.

The fire started about noon (AEST) on Monday and is currently restricted to defence land.

It has caused no damage to equipment or civilian property, a defence spokesman says.

But it has scorched a square kilometre of land, with containment lines in place around it.

"At the time of the training activity, there was no fire ban in place and weather conditions were favourable for the activity to occur," a defence spokesman said.

The area is covered by Gympie Regional Council.

Deputy mayor Tony Perrett said the fire was unfortunate, but the army should regulate its behaviour during dry weather.

"It doesn't take much for one spark to create a situation that could get out of control," he told AAP.

"I hope the army will learn from this and where possible modify their training program in future to reflect current conditions."

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