Cigarette ban is smoke and mirrors: AMA

THE Victorian government's move to ban smoking from playgrounds and kids sports venues is a welcome, but small and not particularly useful move, a peak medical body says.

The new law, which will come into effect on Tuesday, adds to existing bans preventing people from smoking on train platforms and raised tram stops.

Health Minister David Davis said it would create thousands of smoke-free areas to protect children and young people from tobacco-related harm.

But he has attracted criticism from the Australian Medical Association in Victoria for taking the easy path and making small changes.

"They're baulking at the more difficult but more effective measures of smoking control," AMA Victoria president Stephen Parnis said.

AMA Victoria has been pushing for a state-wide ban on smoking in all outdoor dining areas.

"That will affect far more people, and protect their health, than most of the measures that have been announced in recent months," Dr Parnis said.

Last year, AMA Victoria successfully lobbied the Melbourne City Council to trial a smoking ban in Causeway Lane - a popular cafe and bar area in the CBD.

The six month trial is due to wrap-up at the end of this month but the medical association wants leadership from the state government, and says a state-wide ban would bring it into line with all other states and territories.

"It is a profoundly disappointing aspect of this government's record in health that they have not taken this measure which has been clear for a number of years now," Dr Parnis said.

A Greens bill to bring the bans into effect in Victoria was defeated in parliament after both the coalition and opposition voted against it in June.

But the government has not ruled out a more comprehensive ban.

Mr Davis said further steps to cut the number of smoking areas were under "active consideration".

Playground smoking bans are already in place at some local government areas across the state.

Banyule councillor Tom Mellican said the introduction of local laws banning smoking in playgrounds had changed smoker behaviour "massively" and compliance had not been an issue.

"I can't see any down side. It's not like smokers object to these rules. They're quite happy to comply," Cr Mellican said.

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US court blocks death drug supplier info

TEXAS'S new supplier of execution drugs will remain a secret - for now - after the state Supreme Court temporarily blocked a ruling that the prison agency must disclose the information to attorneys for two death-row inmates.

On Friday an appeals court upheld a district judge's ruling from a day earlier that prison officials should disclose the source of a new batch of pentobarbital to the attorneys of the two inmates scheduled to be executed with the drug next month.

The court order allows prison officials to withhold the supplier's name while the justices consider the issue.

Lawyers for the condemned killers filed a lawsuit in the case this week.

The Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) wants to keep the information secret, citing escalating threats of violence against execution drug providers.

A three-judge panel of the 3rd Texas Court of Appeals earlier on Friday upheld a ruling the previous day from State District Court Judge Suzanne Covington, who said the name of the supplier must be disclosed.

The Texas Attorney General took that ruling to the Texas Supreme Court.

Covington's order would provide the information only to attorneys for condemned prisoners Tommy Lynn Sells and Ramiro Hernandez-Llanas, who argued the risk of them being subjected to unconstitutionally cruel pain could not be evaluated without knowing the source of the pentobarbital used by Texas for executions.

Before the Supreme Court ruling, the inmates' attorneys told the justices "let us all take a breath and admire the pure chutzpah of TDCJ, on the brink of executing these inmates by lethal injection from this new and untried supplier, and claiming that it is the 'victim' here and needing emergency relief".

Sells is set to die on April 3, followed six days later by Hernandez-Llanas.

Sells was condemned for slashing two girls' throats in 1999 at a home near Del Rio; one girl died. He claims to have killed dozens more nationwide.

Hernandez-Llanas was condemned for the 1997 beating death of a man who owned a ranch where Hernandez worked.

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Business as usual for Qld's A-G

Attorney-General Jarrod Bleijie says 'it's business as usual' with the Queensland judiciary. Source: AAP

ATTORNEY-GENERAL Jarrod Bleijie has played down the rift with the Queensland judiciary and says it's business as usual.

Mr Bleijie was criticised this week after revealing details of a confidential conversation he had last year with Appeals Court president Justice Margaret McMurdo over who to promote.

Mr Bleijie decided to go public and inferred Ms McMurdo put her husband's name forward in retaliation after Ms McMurdo suggested the Liberal National Party had an unconscious bias towards appointing women.

Former Solicitor-general Walter Sofronoff called on Mr Bleijie to resign, and the Bar Association and the Judicial Conference of Australia added complaints, prompting Premier Campbell Newman to call for calm.

Mr Bleijie says he's met with the judiciary since the blow up.

"I had a very pleasant coffee with the chief magistrate and the chief justice the day before yesterday, after all these events unfolded," he said.

"For me, it's business as usual.

"And we've got some pretty important appointments to make."

"The chief justice replacement, the solicitor-general replacement, and the chief judge at the end of the year."

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Fortescue unfazed by iron ore price falls

ANDREW Forrest's Fortescue Metals Group will continue exploring for iron ore in the Pilbara despite lower growth forecasts for China and weaker iron ore prices.

As the company opened the final stage of a $US9.2 billion expansion of its Pilbara operations on Friday, Mr Forrest said he was not worried by falls in iron ore prices.

"Despite the market going up or down in iron ore prices that's not really my concern," the Fortescue chairman told reporters during a tour of the newly commissioned Kings mine.

"My concern is keeping those strong operating margins by becoming more and more competitive - and that's happening."

Some analysts have cut growth forecasts for China, and predicted iron ore prices will sink to around $US80 to $US90 per tonne over the next few years.

But Mr Forrest said analysts had forecast the Kings mine would not be built until 2018.

"Look at how wrong that assessment was," he said.

Chief executive Nev Power said Fortescue was continually exploring in the Pilbara to extend the life of the company's assets, but he would not say whether it aimed to exceed its current 155 million tonne per annum target over the next few years.

Production guidance for the current year remains unchanged at 127 million tonnes.

Fortescue expects iron ore to trade in the range of $US110 to $130 per tonne for the remainder of the year.

"There'll always be short term volatility driven by stocking and re-stocking cycles but the iron ore price has already returned to around $112-113 a tonne," Mr Power said.

At least another 100 million tonnes of capacity could be generated at Port Hedland, he added.

Mr Power also said the market would be able to absorb the extra output coming from Gina Rinehart's Roy Hill project.

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Labor no confidence bid on Speaker fails

Shadow attorney-general Mark Dreyfus has been banned from parliament for 24 hours. Source: AAP

THE manager of opposition business Tony Burke has moved a motion of no confidence in the Speaker, Bronwyn Bishop.

The suspension motion went down 51-83.

Independents Andrew Wilkie and Cathy McGowan supported the government, while Greens MP Adam Bandt sided with Labor.

Mr Burke's move followed Mrs Bishop's upping the ante in her ongoing battle with Labor, banning shadow attorney-general Mark Dreyfus from parliament for 24 hours.

Question time has become progressively rowdier this week with Mrs Bishop demanding several times that Labor cease its "wall of noise".

Barely 15 minutes in to Thursday's session, she told the opposition to listen to Prime Minister Tony Abbott in silence, since it had heard Opposition Leader Bill Shorten's question quietly.

"Madam Speaker!" Mr Dreyfus protested.

For that, the Speaker "named" him and the government won a motion to excuse him from parliament for 24 hours - the usual procedure for a naming.

Mr Burke urged the house to say it had no further confidence in Mrs Bishop as Speaker due to her "serious partiality" in favour of government members.

Mrs Bishop "constantly fails to interpret correctly the standing orders" and accused her of "gross incompetency" in administering parliamentary procedure, he said.

But Mrs Bishop suggested Labor needed to get its own house in order.

She said on Thursday Labor was unable to call a division on a second reading speech because only one MP was in the house. Then Labor called a division and then called it off.

Finally, Labor had failed to provide a speaker for the debate on a piece of legislation, she said.

Moving for suspension of standing orders so the no-confidence motion could be debated, Mr Burke said never before in the history of the Commonwealth had an MP been named and thrown out for calling "Madam Speaker".

"Yesterday we had a member of parliament thrown out for laughing," he said.

Mr Burke said both sides acknowledged the Speaker was a formidable parliamentarian, who as a minister and member of the opposition managed to launch scathing attacks on Labor.

"You are respected as a member of parliament for that. But we cannot support you continuing to behave that way when you want to sit in the Speaker's chair," he said.

"The parliament deserves more than that and the parliament cannot, cannot have confidence in a Speaker who refuses to be impartial," Mr Burke said.

House leader Christopher Pyne defended Mrs Bishop, saying Mr Burke had clearly been working up to the motion since the 44th parliament began.

"The fact that this is a stunt, Madam Speaker, is so clearly indicated by the fact the Manager of Opposition Business came into the chamber with a prepared speech," he said.

Mr Pyne called Mr Dreyfus an aggressive bully who had deliberately been rude to the Speaker.

"I'm no sook," Mr Pyne said, citing his term as opposition business manager during the hung parliament and his record as the most-ejected MP in parliament's history.

"I never complained. I didn't stand up like a great big sook like the Manager of Opposition Business did today and say ... I had my toy taken away."

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Tough budget decisions coming: Abbott

PM Tony Abbott has warned that "tough decisions" are coming to restore the federal budget. Source: AAP

PRIME Minister Tony Abbott has warned that "tough decisions" are coming to restore the federal budget.

In the last parliamentary sitting day before Treasurer Joe Hockey brings down his first budget on May 13, Mr Abbott said of all the government's commitments, the most fundamental was to restore the budget.

"Tough decisions are coming," he told parliament.

"They are necessary for the prosperity of our country."

Shadow treasurer Chris Bowen asked Mr Hockey why, if he is concerned about the budget, did he double the deficit and add $68 billion of new spending, and change economic assumptions to his mid-year review in December.

Mr Hockey described this as "great fiction" which came from a party with a record of $190 billion of deficits in five years.

"The legacy of Labor is that over the next 10 years there is no surplus, there is no repayment of debt," he said.

"The Labor party legacy of debt and deficit wasn't just for the period they were in government, it is for as far as you can see in the years ahead."

He said the government plans were very clear, and entirely consistent in dealing with what were changing economic circumstances over the last few decades.

"We said government cannot afford to waste taxpayers' money," he said.

He said the pink batts program was a terrible waste of money and cost lives; GP super clinics were medical facilities that did not treat any patients; and the NBN was a litany of waste and incompetence.

"We are going to fix the mess," he said.

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Pell worried by US abuse payouts

Cardinal George Pell has given evidence at the royal commission into child sexual abuse in Sydney. Source: AAP

CARDINAL George Pell was worried by sexual abuse case payouts that had bankrupted some US churches and wanted to prevent similar payouts in Australia, an inquiry has heard.

Dr Pell, the former archbishop of Sydney, told the royal commission into child sexual abuse that he had been concerned by verdicts in US courts where large payouts to victims had bankrupted some dioceses.

He denied, however, that he wanted sexual abuse victims to go through the Catholic church's internal system, Towards Healing, rather than the courts, so that the church could control the size of payouts.

Under questioning from Commission chair Justice Peter McClellan, Dr Pell agreed that, since his time as archbishop of Melbourne, he had been concerned about the US payouts to victims.

He did not want a similar situation in Australia because "Australia is not America" where there are "an enormous number of lawyers".

But Dr Pell also did not want the church to be treated differently to any other Australian institution in answering claims of sexual abuse.

"I did not want that to happen just to us," he said.

The commission was shown a 2007 letter to the archdiocese from its lawyers that described a court ruling that the church's trustees could not be sued as a significant and favourable outcome.

The lawyers said the court's ruling "places a significant number of obstacles" that would have to be overcome by claimants pursuing abuse cases through the courts rather than through Towards Healing.

Earlier, Dr Pell said he instructed lawyers to vigorously defend the case against abuse victim John Ellis to make other potential complainants reconsider going to court.

Counsel assisting the commission, Gail Furness SC, asked Dr Pell if he had wanted to make plaintiffs "think twice" about suing the church.

Dr Pell said he wanted them to "think clearly".

"They should consider the advantages in not going to litigation," he said.

He admitted the church didn't deal fairly with Mr Ellis "from a Christian point of view", but in a legal sense it did nothing improper.

Dr Pell said he was consoled by a legal ruling protecting the church's property trustees from being sued.

The commission has heard the archdiocese of Sydney has property and cash worth $1.2 billion.

Mr Ellis sued the church over the abuse he suffered at the hands of a priest between the ages of 13 to 17 in the 1970s, but lost the case in 2007 when a court ruled the trustees weren't liable.

Lawyers disputed in court that the abuse had occurred, cross-examining Mr Ellis over a number of days, despite the church having previously accepted that it had happened.

Dr Pell said he regretted the action.

"I regret that. I was told that it was a legally proper tactic," he said.

The church subsequently pursued Mr Ellis for $550,000 in costs, despite a psychiatrist assessing Mr Ellis as being in a fragile mental state.

The inquiry continues.

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Christian bikies back Qld court challenge

QUEENSLAND'S anti-bikie laws go against the Bible and Christian beliefs about justice, the Brotherhood Christian Motorcycle Club says.

Queensland's outlaw motorcycle gangs have found an unlikely ally in the Brotherhood, which will help bankroll their High Court challenge against the laws.

"We'd hope to raise at least $2000, maybe more," spokesman Greg Pendlebury told AAP on Wednesday.

The club has written to the Queensland parliament asking for the laws to be repealed.

It's also contacting churches, asking them to compare the laws with the Bible's teachings and consider contributing funds.

The club has spoken out against anti-association laws in NSW and other states in the past, but considers the Queensland laws to be the most menacing.

The laws go against Christian principles by changing the nature of crime from "what you do" to "who you talk to", the club says.

Other criticisms include that the laws remove the intent of the justice system to correct behaviour, and the prospect of innocent people being punished because of their associations.

"Punishing the innocent is contrary to the Bible's mandate for government," Mr Pendlebury said.

"The new laws mean that an activity as innocent as a family picnic may be an offence."

Fourteen of the state's bikie gangs, which were declared illegal organisations in October, as well as recreational riders, launched the High Court challenge last week.

They'll argue that more than a dozen sections of the new laws are unconstitutional.

The reforms were introduced after a violent brawl at a Gold Coast restaurant in September 2013, which involved dozens of bikies wearing club colours.

The legislation imposes mandatory jail terms of between 15 and 25 years for anyone found guilty of gang-related crimes, with the punishment to be imposed on top of the usual sentence.

And it is illegal for three or more gang members to knowingly meet in public.

Attorney-General Jarrod Bleijie said the laws are firm but fair.

"Everyone has the right to fund a legal challenge but that money could go towards helping victims of crime, disadvantaged Queenslanders and not organised criminal gangs," Mr Bleijie told AAP.

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Chileans worry over string of 300 quakes

MORE than 300 earthquakes have shaken Chile's far-northern coast over the past week, as scientists say there is no way of telling if the unusual string of tremors is a harbinger of an impending disaster.

The worrying activity began with a strong magnitude-6.7 quake on March 16 that caused more than 100,000 people to briefly evacuate low-lying areas, although no tsunami happened and there was little damage from the shaking.

But the land has not settled down. More than a dozen perceptible quakes were felt in the city of Iquique just on Monday.

"The situation is out of the ordinary. There's a mix of a string of tremors and their aftershocks that make things more complex to evaluate," Mario Pardo, deputy head of the Universidad de Chile seismology centre, told the local newspaper La Tercera.

"We can't rule out a larger quake."

Chile is one of the world's most earthquake-prone countries. A magnitude-8.8 quake and ensuing tsunami in central Chile in 2010 killed more than 500 people, destroyed 220,000 homes, and washed away docks, riverfronts and seaside resorts.

The strongest earthquake ever recorded also happened in Chile - a magnitude-9.5 tremor in 1960 that killed more than 5000 people.

The last recorded big quake to hit the northern area around Iquique was a devastating magnitude-8.3 in 1877. It unleashed a 24-metre-high tsunami, causing major damage along the Chile-Peru coast and fatalities as far away as Hawaii and Japan.

"The latest string of quakes is noteworthy because the last one happened in this seismic zone more than 130 years ago," said Paulina Gonzalez, an expert on seismic analysis at the Universidad de Santiago.

"It's a zone where quakes should happen more often, and they haven't in a very long time."

A major quake in the country's north would be a potential threat to the economy of Chile, which is the world's top copper producing nation. Most of the Chilean mining industry is in the northern regions.

Chile's worrisome seismic activity can be traced to just off the country's 4000km Pacific coast, where the Nazca tectonic plate plunges beneath the South American plate, pushing the towering Andes chain to ever-higher altitudes. The 2010 quake released so much energy it shortened the Earth's day slightly by changing the planet's rotation.

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Knights and dames back in Australia

KNIGHTS and Dames are being reintroduced to the Order of Australia honours list.

Outgoing governor-general Quentin Bryce and her successor Peter Cosgrove will be the first to receive the titles.

The Queen has amended the letters patent for the Order of Australia to allow for the new honours, Prime Minister Tony Abbott said on Tuesday.

The new category will recognise pre-eminent Australians.

Up to four knights or dames will be able to be appointed each year.

The titles will go to people who have accepted public office rather than sought it and for their service to Australia or to humanity at large.

"I believe this is an important grace note in our national life," Mr Abbott told reporters.

It's important to honour people's extraordinary service, he said.

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Employment increases in auto industry

DESPITE the imminent closure Holden, Ford and Toyota's car making operations, employment in Australia's automotive sector is actually on the increase.

According to research from industry group Auto Skills Australia, more than 4,000 jobs were added to the sector during the 2012/13 financial year.

More than 361,000 people were employed in the automotive sector at June 30, 2013, with the strongest jobs growth recorded in car and parts wholesaling, repair and maintenance and tyre retailing.

"The employment gains within these sectors have more than offset the losses in the manufacturing and retail sectors, thus resulting in a positive aggregate rise in employment for the whole industry," Auto Skills said.

The group said vehicle manufacturing accounted for only 13 per cent of the Australian auto industry, with most of the sector made up of sales, repair and servicing businesses.

But the report also warned of a high rate of closures during 2012/13, especially among small businesses and in the automotive body repair sub-sector.

It said a reduction in motor vehicle accidents, along with the high cost of equipment and training to repair modern vehicles, weak consumer spending and high insurance costs were hurting many automotive body repairers.

A survey conducted for the report found 44 per cent of automotive businesses are currently experiences variable conditions, while a quarter are experiencing below average growth.

But it also found more than half of all respondents expected conditions to improve in the next year.

Meanwhile, the closure of the vehicle manufacturing sector and structural change in the industry meant there would be fewer independent servicing and repair businesses, so those that wanted to survive would need to innovate.

"Those enterprises seeking to remain in the industry will need to have innovation at the core of their business models, along with modern workshop facilities, ongoing investment in staff training and capital equipment, and a keen customer focus and service outlook," the report said.

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Lone Pine on Anzac anniversary lineup

A MAJOR event at Lone Pine in Turkey will form part of Australia's Anzac centenary commemorations.

While the number of Australians will be limited to 8000 at the official April 25, 2015 dawn service on the Turkish coastline, government senator Michael Ronaldson has announced another opportunity for those who are unsuccessful in securing a ballot ticket.

On August 6, 2015 there will be a "major commemorative event" hosted by Australia at Lone Pine, the minister assisting the prime minister for the Centenary of Anzac, told the upper house on Monday.

"The August offensive at Lone Pine was a major battle and seven Australians were awarded the VC (Victoria Cross) for bravery," Senator Ronaldson said.

There were more than 2000 Australian casualties at the ridge top, four-day battle, which came more three months after the famous beach landings.

More than 40,000 people who applied for dawn service tickets will learn the ballot outcome in coming weeks, he said.

Australian and Turkish authorities continue to work closely to ensure "solemn, dignified and appropriate" commemorations are held in honour of the Anzacs who were sacrificed almost 100 years ago.

Senator Ronaldson confirmed that only four politicians will attend the centenary anniversary dawn service at Gallipoli: the prime minister, the government's veterans affairs spokesperson, himself, and Opposition Leader Bill Shorten.

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NSW urged to get flu-ready

PREGNANT women and the elderly are being urged to prepare for winter and get a flu shot following an "unusually high" level of influenza in NSW this summer.

The Director of Health Protection NSW, Dr Jeremy McAnulty, said the northern hemisphere had experienced widespread influenza over the past months, with influenza A(H1N1) pandemic strain, A(H3N2) and influenza B circulating to different extents in different countries.

An unusually high level of influenza had also been seen in NSW over summer, he said.

He and other health professionals are now urging people, especially the elderly and pregnant women, to prepare for winter.

"The Australian flu vaccine has been updated to more closely match the influenza strains likely to circulate in NSW this year.

"So get a shot in preparation for this season," Dr McAnulty said on Sunday.

He said the seasonal flu shot continues to be the best defence for pregnant women and has the added advantage of protecting babies during their first six months when they are too young to have the vaccine.

NSW Health Minister Jillian Skinner said the government's Be Winter Wise campaign, launched on Sunday, was focusing on pregnant women, the elderly and people with chronic medical conditions.

"Although we are still experiencing warm weather, people should not be complacent when it comes to the dangers of the flu," she said in a statement.

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One-punch killers to face life in Qld

One-punch killers will face life imprisonment under proposed changes to Queensland laws. Source: AAP

ONE-PUNCH killers would face life imprisonment under proposed changes to Queensland laws.

The Newman government's draft plan to tackle alcohol-related and drug-related violence, released on Sunday, would create an offence - unlawful striking causing death - to deal with one-punch killers.

If convicted, defendants would be required to serve at least 80 per cent of their life sentence behind bars before being eligible for parole.

"We have all seen the devastating and often tragic effects of coward punches not just in our state but across the nation," Premier Campbell Newman said in a statement.

"The Queensland government is determined to counter this dangerous trend and make Queensland the safest place in Australia for people to go out and enjoy themselves."

Under the plan, the maximum penalty for aggravated serious assaults on ambulance officers would rise from seven to 14 years' imprisonment.

Drunkenness would no longer be a viable excuse to mitigate an offender's sentence and courts would have the power to ban people from licensed premises for life.

ID would be installed in all licensed venues trading after midnight to keep out problem patrons and banned people.

The government would also set up 15 "safe night precincts" across the state where there would be late-night lockouts and more police on the beat.

Police would be given the power to detain people for their own safety if they were unduly intoxicated and at risk of serious harm, or behaving in a potentially violent or antisocial manner.

The government would also introduce a compulsory drinking awareness plan for all students between years 7-12 as part of the school curriculum.

The public has been asked to comment on the draft policy before April 21.

The opposition called on the Newman government to introduce a blanket 1am lockout across the state.

"If you don't tackle trading hours you don't tackle alcohol-fuelled violence. It's that simple," Opposition Leader Annastacia Palaszczuk said in a statement.

"Unfortunately we have a premier too scared to act and showing no leadership."

Opposition police spokesman Bill Byrne questioned whether the government had failed to introduce a lockout because it was beholden to vested interests.

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