Qld man's body found with gunshot wounds

A BRISBANE man's body was found riddled with gunshot wounds in a park south of Brisbane, police say.

Members of the public found the body of Mitchelton man Julian Neuendorf, 38, in the Logan River near the Logan Reserve boat ramp at Henderson Park, about 9.15am (AEST) on Friday.

Detective Superintendent David Hutchinson said Mr Neuendorf, who was known to police, had "sustained a number of gunshot wounds", probably on Thursday evening.

"He's had involvement with police over a number of years and he does have a few questionable associates," Supt Hutchinson told reporters.

"He has an assorted criminal history."

Det Supt Hutchinson said police believed Mr Neuendorf was murdered in the park.

Police would like to speak with anyone who saw anything suspicious in the Logan Reserve area on Thursday evening or who may have knowledge about the movements of Mr Neuendorf, who was last seen alive in Mitchelton earlier that day.

"Why was he in the Logan area that night; he's from Mitchelton?" Det Supt Hutchison said.

Officers are also appealing for public information regarding the movements of Mr Neuendorf's black 2007 Ford Falcon GT sedan, which was found in the park.

Detectives and forensic officers, as well as police divers and members of the State Emergency Service, returned to the boat ramp area on Saturday to search for clues.

Anyone with information is urged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.

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1 dead, nine injured in train-truck crash

A TRAIN collided with a truck at a level crossing in Melbourne's south on Saturday, killing a 30-year-old man and injuring nine other people, including the train driver.

Police said 13 people were aboard the south-bound metro train when it struck the truck's trailer at the Abbotts Road level crossing in Dandenong South at 11.42am (AEDT) on Saturday.

The front carriage on the six-car train jackknifed, derailing and overturning it, while others came to rest on their sides across and beside the tracks.

Detective-Inspector Maurice Lynn said a male passenger died at the scene after being found and treated by paramedics near the main engine of the train.

He was suffering a heart attack when emergency services found him, police said in a statement.

Eight other injured people, believed to have been passengers on the train, were taken to hospitals nearby, with one of them in a critical condition after being trapped in the rubble.

The driver of the train was in a serious but stable condition after being freed from the wreckage and taken to The Alfred Hospital with lower body injuries.

He was trapped in the train for more than an hour before being freed at around 1pm.

Paramedics gave the driver fluids and oxygen as emergency services worked to free him.

"Our team were treating his injuries while he was in there," an ambulance spokesman told AAP.

Det-Insp Lynn said most of passengers taken to Frankston and Dandenong hospitals had minor injuries, mainly bruises and abrasions.

Metro Trains said train services on the Pakenham line between Dandenong and Cranbourne will be suspended, with buses to replace trains.

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Holden to cut jobs in Adelaide

CAR maker Holden will cut 170 jobs at its Adelaide assembly plant because of falling demand for locally-built vehicles.

Holden said the job cuts would be achieved through voluntary redundancies and would allow the company to better match production levels to customer demand.

It said the high Australian dollar and Australia having one of the world's most open and competitive car markets had forced its hand.

The job losses were a necessary step to ensure the company was able to continue to have a viable manufacturing operation in Australia for the next decade, Holden said.

"Situations like this are always difficult and this decision has not been made lightly," the company said in a statement on Friday.

"We will work together with employees and representatives to ensure that people are able to make informed decisions about their future.

"Every effort has been taken to avoid this decision, including the use of market response days.

"However current new car demand necessitates a reduction to permanent employees."

Holden said it expected to get enough workers to accept redundancy packages and all would have access to support services.

It said it also remained committed to developing two new cars in Australia.

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Self managed super attracting crime: ASIC

THE increase in self managed superannuation funds is attracting crime organisations to Australia, the corporate watchdog says.

Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) chairman Greg Medcraft said superannuation was expected to grow to $3 trillion over the next decade and to $5 trillion the following decade.

"It will grow at twice the rate of the economy," he told a business lunch in Sydney on Friday.

"This will increase ASIC's regulatory perimeter as more investors come into the system and invest more money."

He said there were also an increasing number of retirees opting for self managed super funds, from the current 33 per cent to 40 per cent within the next five years.

This had led to an increase in cybercrime because crime organisations saw Australia as an easy target.

"Because of self managed super we are seen as having a large pile of money in this country which is available to invest and that's very attractive to international crime organisations," he said.

Mr Medcraft said sophisticated scams were emerging often using fake websites and cold calling.

"What's really interesting about these is often the people that are caught up in these scams are quite sophisticated investors because these websites look so real," he said.

"Often it's males, over 55, professional, very experienced investors getting caught out. The cybercrime aspect of complexity is quite worrying."

The increase in complex investment products on the market also meant greater risks and greater potential losses for Australian investors.

"The increased risks in complex products are not just faced by retail investors," he said.

"The GFC (global financial crisis) provided clear examples where non-retail investors such as universities, councils, endowment funds, incurred severe losses from investing in structured credit instruments they did not understand."

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Coalition's McKew stunt fails

AN attempt by the coalition to table a page of former Labor MP Maxine McKew's book in parliament has failed.

Deputy opposition leader Julie Bishop said Prime Minister Julia Gillard had repeatedly told parliament and elsewhere that she'd "always been" in favour of pricing carbon.

But a new book has cast doubt on Ms Gillard's version of events and called her commitment to the carbon tax into question.

The prime minister famously said before the 2010 election there would be no carbon tax under a government she led.

"How does the prime minister reconcile those statements with the revelation in Tales from the Political Trenches that she wrote to former prime minister Rudd in 2010 saying that she vehemently opposed fighting another election on introducing a price on carbon?" Ms Bishop asked on Monday.

Ms Gillard said she had dealt with the matters on the public record many times.

"I stand by my statements," she said.

"Isn't it interesting that here today we have the opposition with their tired, old fear campaigns, having a fiddle with the rear-vision mirror as they look backwards as we lead this nation to a future of opportunity and opportunity shared."

Ms Bishop sought to table page 173 of Ms McKew's book because it was a "credible and balanced account".

The move was not allowed.

"I think the author and the publishers might want people to buy it," Leader of the House Anthony Albanese said.

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PM says UN does matter to Australia

PRIME Minister Julia Gillard says the United Nations does matter to Australia and now a local voice will be heard at the highest level.

After moving a motion of condolence over the death of Corporal Scott Smith in Afghanistan, Ms Gillard said Australia's election to a temporary seat on the UN security council showed the nation's standing at the UN was high and bilateral relationships were in good shape.

She said the UN was involved in Afghanistan and East Timor, where Australian troops were now deployed.

The UN was also dealing with some of the world's most intractable and difficult problems, including the nuclear programs of Iran and North Korea, efforts to halt fighting in Syria and the continuing fight against terrorism and extremism.

"So the UN does matter to Australia," Ms Gillard told parliament on Monday.

"And now a voice with an Australian accent will be heard at the table of security council. This is a result that all Australians can be proud of."

Ms Gillard paid tribute to everyone behind the successful bid, starting with former PM and foreign minister Kevin Rudd, his successor foreign ministers, diplomats and many others.

She also thanked Australia's AusAID workers, defence personnel and police.

"The reason our reputation is high in so many nations around the world is because they have gone there and with courage and endeavour. They have helped and I think this one is for them," she said.

Opposition Leader Tony Abbott said in any contest between Australia and other countries, the coalition was always on Australia's side.

"Australia's voice should be heard because of our values and we should always act in accordance with our values," he said.

Mr Abbott congratulated all those behind this successful bid.

"But it would be churlish of me not to give a special mention to the former prime minister, the former foreign minister Kevin Rudd whose original idea and inspiration it was and who did so much so indefatigably to bring it about," he said.

"This is a special day in the parliament for the former prime minister."

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Asia strategy needs joint effort: business

BUSINESS is calling for bipartisanship over the broad direction of the federal government's Asian century white paper, as Australia sets course to ramp up its engagement with Asia.

The Business Council of Australia (BCA) and Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ACCI) said the challenge will be to implement the policies to fulfil the goals for 2025 of the white paper given the long time frame.

"There will be debate about the specific policy solutions to the challenges outlined in the white paper, but what is needed is bipartisanship on the broad direction," BCA head Jennifer Westacott said in a statement.

"Clearly the government must take the lead in adhering to and delivering on many of the policy commitments, but equally the business community plays a significant and critical leadership role."

ACCI chief Peter Anderson said governments, the federal opposition and the finance sector needed to follow through on goals to improve competitiveness, trade finance, Asian language and cultural learning.

"It sets the right ambition and points to more than enough economic, trade and social pathways for regional prosperity to keep both government and opposition away from the gender wars or partisan politics from now until the next election if they have enough will and discipline," he said.

But Mr Anderson said while the paper stated the "bleeding obvious", the federal government's response was a surprise packet of practical first measures.

"The exceptions are a failure to have saved the money to now afford what needs to be done, and lack of willingness to turn away from domestic policy errors that have eaten away at industry competitiveness like labour market re-regulation and the carbon tax," he said.

Accounting body CPA Australia was disappointed there was no provision in the white paper for a dedicated cabinet minister for the Asian century.

"Such a minister would enable more effective coordination at a policy and budgetary level and in doing so, ease the path to implementation," chief executive Alex Malley said.

Global law firm Baker & McKenzie said all Australian companies looking to grow their business - particularly in services such education, law, accounting and finance - need an Asian strategy.

"Building relationships at all levels is critical, from school children to business leaders and government," Australia managing partner Chris Freeland said in a statement.

"A better understanding of Asian cultures and languages, and building professional exchanges, is vital to better do business across this diverse region."

Meanwhile, National Farmers' Federation President Jock Laurie welcomed the paper's recognition of the opportunities for the agriculture sector in Asia.

"And it has recognised that to capitalise on this, greater investment is needed to boost output and research, adapt to regulatory change and build capacity," he said.

Educators also liked the skills and training thrust of the paper, saying Australian government must overhaul education funding and foreign student visa provisions.

Opposition foreign affairs spokeswoman Julie Bishop said there was nothing groundbreaking about the paper.

"I think it's a disappointing effort," she told Sky News.

Ms Bishop said the paper did contain some laudable goals.

"What's missing is the funding to back it up, or any detailed steps on how they would achieve some of the strategic visions," she said.

"There's nothing profound here, there's no insight beyond what governments are already doing."

Ms Bishop also commented on the paper's political nature.

"It's main theme seems to be that to prepare for the Asian century, we need to embrace Labor's current policies.

"I fear it's been re-written by a posse of Labor spin doctors."

Innes Willox, chief executive of Australian Industry Group, echoed the calls for both sides of politics to develop and implement a national Asia-competitive strategy.

He was disappointed a key ingredient of productive performance - workplace relations reform - was absent in the white paper.

"Yet more flexible workplace relations are critical to the realisation of productivity gains from other sources including education and training and innovation," Mr Willox said.

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Aust share market expected to open higher

THE Australian share market is expected to open higher on Monday despite lacklustre trading on Wall Street on Friday.

US markets closed mixed but were almost flat on Friday as investors weighed disappointing company earnings against a slightly better-than-expected estimate of US economic growth in the third quarter.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 3.53 points, or 0.03 per cent, higher at 13,107.21 points.

The broader S&P 500 index dipped 1.03 points, or 0.07 per cent, to 1,411.94 points, and the Nasdaq Composite index added 1.83 points, or 0.06 per cent, to 2,987.95 points.

Company earnings were the main driver of the US market, with iPad maker Apple losing 0.9 per cent after missing expectations in its quarterly report.

Amazon bounced 6.9 per cent upwards despite posting a loss and cautious outlook for the holiday shopping season.

The first government estimate of third-quarter GDP (gross domestic product) growth in the US came in at 2.0 per cent, up from 1.3 per cent in the prior quarter but not enough to generate much optimism.

AMP Capital chief economist Shane Oliver said the US GDP data was okay but investors remained cautious in relation to corporate earnings.

"However, the failure of European and US shares to follow through with sharp falls as seen in several Asian share markets on Friday saw ASX (Australian Securities Exchange) futures gain 18 points or 0.4 per cent, suggesting a positive start to trade on Monday for the Australian share market after a 0.8 per cent fall on Friday," Dr Oliver said.

However, Dr Oliver said global share markets were in still in a correction/consolidation mode.

Given uncertainties regarding the US presidential election and the US economy, short-term earnings downgrades, unresolved issues in debt-ridden Europe and the Chinese leadership transition, the correction may have a bit further to run over the near term.

In Australia this week, the season for company annual general meetings continues, with the Bendigo and Adelaide Bank AGM on Monday; Commonwealth Bank, Crown and Flight Centre on Tuesday; Consolidated Media Holdings, JB Hi-Fi and Tabcorp Holdings on Wednesday; Boral, Perpetual, Transfield Services and Whitehaven Coal on Thursday; and Qantas on Friday.

On Wednesday, National Australia Bank releases its full-year profit results.

On the economic front, the Australian Bureau of Statistics releases data on building approvals for September, on Wednesday.

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