Labor can bounce back as a team: Shorten

Party members and unions will have a say in choosing Queensland Labor's parliamentary leader. Source: AAP

FEDERAL leader Bill Shorten has likened the prospect of a Labor Party comeback to the form reversal of the Australian cricket team.

He told the Queensland party conference that Labor had been written off since the election like fast bowler Mitchell Johnson before the Ashes.

"But then something happened, Mitchell started running in hard, he started running in very hard and bowling very fast," he told the cheering crowd of Labor faithful in Brisbane on Saturday.

"Now no one knows what's going to happen in this Ashes series.

"It's wide open and anyone can win.

"And what's true in sport is true in politics."

Mr Shorten called for unity, but there were deep divisions over proposals to give the rank-and-file more power.

Motions called for ordinary members have an input in voting for Queensland senate candidates, the state parliamentary leader, the Brisbane lord mayoral candidate and the state party's three vice presidents.

But the powerful delegates dug in their heels.

A motion for the branch members and unions to each get 30 per cent of the vote to choose who held the state parliamentary leader was passed.

But only after a delegate's suggested amendment to give the rank-and-file 50 per cent of the vote, with the other 50 per cent split between unions and caucus, was shouted down by outraged union delegates.

Later a motion to democratise senate preselections was fiercely challenged by regional delegates, who thought it would give too much power to the southeast.

In the end there was a division, which was likely to see the motion deferred.

Another motion for branch members to have a say in choosing the state party's three vice presidents was also set to be deferred, with one delegate telling delegates that democracy would destroy their power.

"You're voting yourselves out of existence," he warned.

In the end the delegates' hardball tactics resulted in only one motion giving branch members more power being passed, with the rest set to be deferred.

But a motion to reintroduce a ban on mining uranium in Queensland was easily passed.

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Stabbed woman hails cab to NSW hospital

A NSW woman somehow waved down a cab to get to hospital after suffering critical stab wounds. Source: AAP

A NSW woman mustered the strength to wave down a cab to rush herself to hospital after suffering critical stab wounds.

Police say a 42-year-old woman waved down a taxi driver on Villiers Street in South Grafton at 11.40pm (AEDT) on Friday and asked for help, saying she had been stabbed.

A man who had been standing next to the woman fled while the taxi driver took her to Grafton Hospital, where she underwent emergency surgery for stab wounds to her stomach, upper chest area and neck.

Police believe the stabbing was related to a domestic incident and apprehended a 55-year-old man as he returned to a Villiers Street home in the early hours of Saturday.

He was taken to Grafton Police Station and charged with causing grievous bodily harm with intent to murder.

He will appear in court at a later date.

The woman remains in hospital in a critical but stable condition.

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Police charge would-be carjacker

A MAN who allegedly tried to carjack a BMW in central Sydney before hitting a bouncer outside a bar has been charged.

In the early hours of Saturday the 39-year-old allegedly pushed the driver of a BMW, parked on the corner of Sussex and Slips streets, into the passenger seat and tried to start the car, police say.

Security guards from a nearby hotel pulled the would-be carjacker from the BMW but he ran off to a bar on Lime Street.

Leaving the venue, the man allegedly assaulted a bouncer in what police say was an "unprovoked attack."

He tried to run again but was chased by doorman's colleagues, caught and restrained.

Police took the man, who had suffered a head injury, to St Vincent's Hospital.

He was released on Saturday afternoon and charged with carjacking, assault occasioning actual bodily harm and common assault.

Bail was granted and he's due before Central Local Court on Monday.

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Honduran candidate calls for protest

Honduras' opposition leader says she will refuse to recognise the results of the country's election. Source: AAP

OPPOSITION candidate Xiomara Castro has announced that she won't recognise the result of Honduras' presidential election because of alleged voter fraud and called on her supporters to protest the win by the ruling party candidate.

Castro, whose husband Manuel Zelaya was ousted in a 2009 coup, told a news conference that she would demand a vote-by-vote recount of Sunday's balloting, which she described as "a disgusting monstrosity that has robbed me of the presidency."

Honduras' electoral court declared conservative Juan Orlando Hernandez the winner. The court says he received 36.5 per cent of the votes compared to 28.8 per cent for Castro, with 93 per cent of the votes counted. Six other candidates shared the remaining votes.

Claiming her campaign had found "innumerable examples" of voting irregularities, Castro said "we are not going to accept the results released by the Supreme Electoral Tribunal and we will not recognise the legitimacy of the government that is the product of this shameful assault."

Castro, 54, presented what she described as evidence of fraud and provided a document detailing alleged irregularities. She called on her supporters to hold massive and peaceful street protests against the result.

Castro led for months in the polls until Hernandez, 45, erased her lead by presenting himself as the law and order candidate in an impoverished country with the world's highest homicide rate and much of the cocaine travelling from South America to the US.

The European Union and the Organisation of American States observer missions have released reports calling Honduras' election process transparent despite some irregularities.

The electoral court has acknowledged that there were delays in the vote count because 20 per cent of the vote tallies from the polling stations couldn't be fed into the scanner and needed to be counted by hand. Former President Zelaya said Wednesday that the fraud occurred in that 20 per cent.

But Jose Antonio de Gabriel, deputy head of the European Union's team of election observers, said the irregular votes came from all over the country and not from areas that heavily favoured Castro.

The US State Department issued a statement after the election congratulating "the people of Honduras for their strong participation" in the vote.

"We note that Organisation of American States and European Union electoral observation mission reports reflect a transparent process," it said earlier in the week.

Castro's campaign was considered an attempt at a political comeback by Zelaya, whose ouster left Honduras politically unstable. Poverty and violence have worsened over the last four years under outgoing President Porfirio Lobo.

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Tiny fish gives big evolutionary insight

The defence secrets of a leaping fish may give an insight into how life made it from water to land. Source: AAP

THE defence secrets of a tiny, leaping, amphibious fish, unveiled by NSW scientists, may give an insight into how life survived the transition from aquatic to terrestrial habitats.

The Pacific leaping Blenny grows to only eight centimetres and spends its time leaping from rock to rock, defending territory and feeding on the tropical island of Guam.

Dr Terry Ord and Courtney Morgans from the University of NSW first compared the colours of five Blenny populations with the rocks they lived on.

After discovering the colours were almost identical they modelled Blenny lookalikes out of plasticine and placed them in the habitat.

Dr Ord said the models were collected after several days and the incidence of attacks from birds, lizards and crabs recorded.

"We found the models on the sand were attacked far more frequently than those on the rocks," he said in a statement.

"This means the fish are uniquely camouflaged to their rocky environments and this helps them avoid being eaten by land predators."

They also found closely related fish had similar colouration, meaning the Blenny's ancestors were probably rock coloured when they first moved out of the water.

"These species provide an evolutionary snapshot of each stage of the land invasion by fish," said Dr Ord.

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UN report on trauma of Syrian refugee kids

SYRIAN refugee children are paying a cruel price as civil war rips their country apart, the United Nations warns in a report with heart-rending testimony from youngsters driven from their homes.

"This is impossible to forget. It's like someone has stabbed me with a knife when I remember," 15-year-old Taha, who saw seven corpses near his house in Syria, told interviewers with the UN refugee agency (UNHCR).

He and scores of other Syrian refugee children in Jordan and Lebanon were interviewed for a 60-page UNHCR report, starkly laying out the trauma of young exiles from a conflict that has killed more than 120,000 people.

The children's last names were not revealed, to protect them and their families.

"It is important that this human face of the refugee crisis is not forgotten," Volker Turk, UNHCR head of international protection, told journalists in Geneva on Friday.

"And if you look at what children face, they illustrate very strongly what this crisis is all about," he said.

Children make up about half of the more than 2.2 million Syrians who have fled their homeland, according to UN numbers of registered refugees.

Syria's neighbours meanwhile estimate some three million Syrians have already left the war-ravaged country, which means around 1.5 million Syrian children are living as refugees.

"Looking back over the last 20 years, the Syria refugee crisis for us is unparalleled since the Rwanda crisis," Turk said, referring to the 1994 genocide in the African nation.

He pointed out that children also represent about half of the 6.5 million people driven from their homes but who remain inside Syria.

In the report, the children describe in words and with drawings the horrors they have witnessed and the turmoil within.

"There is blood up to people's knees in Syria," said 17-year-old Sala.

And 16-year-old Maher, who was tortured in Syria and whose father remains missing there, said: "My first wish would be to go back to Syria and to have my father released."

Some of the children also drew pictures of weapons of war and bodies.

"The idea of home and warmth is gone with a stroke," said Turk.

"There is a lot of psychological scarring and a lot of trauma ... You see it in sleeplessness, children being very withdrawn, there is stuttering, bed-wetting."

Anger was also common, with some boys wanting to return to Syria to fight.

Other scars are physical: 741 Syrian children were treated for war wounds in Lebanon in the first six months of this year, and 1000 cared for in the vast Za'atari refugee camp in Jordan.

The massive influx of Syrians has stretched food, water, healthcare and accommodation resources to the limit in the host countries, and also overwhelmed their education systems.

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Elderly Albany man convicted over hit

AN elderly, wealthy West Australian businessman has been found guilty of attempting to hire a hitman to murder his son's ex-wife.

Brian Vincent Attwell, 73, has been on trial in the Albany Courthouse on the state's southern coast for the past five days, charged with the rare offence of attempting to procure the commission of a crime.

The court heard the accused asked a truck diver, who approached him desperate for work with his civil contracting company AD Contractors, to kill 50-year-old Michelle Patreena Attwell after becoming frustrated with a protracted, bitter legal dispute between her and his son following the breakdown of their marriage.

The driver informed police, who instructed him to set up a meeting between Attwell and an undercover policeman.

Attwell met the policeman twice at a beach near the woman's home, and paid $10,000 in two instalments as a down payment on a $30,000 job.

The court heard Attwell refer to her as a "maggot", a "pain in the arse" and a "nuisance to society" who should be "put to sleep".

He told the officer to bind Ms Attwell in duct tape, strangle her and bury her in a 30-foot hole dug by an excavator.

Defence lawyer Tom Percy argued his client was just expressing his frustration with the ongoing legal dispute, a central point of contention being his son's stake in AD Contractors, a multi-million dollar business.

Attwell repeatedly said during his testimony that his hateful comments were "huff and puff", and that he only wanted his estranged daughter-in-law frightened.

But state prosecutor James MacTaggart said evidence showed Attwell was committed to having her murdered.

Mr Percy argued the undercover policeman had not been given enough information about Ms Attwell - including a photograph - for her to have been in real danger.

Mr MacTaggart, however, said Attwell had provided an address and general description, and that was sufficient for the woman to be at serious risk.

On Friday, a jury convicted Attwell, who spent six months in custody after he was charged.

They deliberated for more than three hours over two days.

Mr MacTaggart noted Attwell was ill and barely mobile, but said he deserved a substantial term of imprisonment as he had engaged a contract killer to a party in a legal dispute.

Ms Attwell, who sat through the whole trial, would not speak with the media but issued a statement in which she asked for her privacy to be respected.

"It's been a long, sad and distressing year for the whole family and this week has been harrowing," she said.

"I'm glad it is over and I hope this really is the end of the matter and I can get on with my life without fear and interference."

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Cash rate cutting cycle coming to an end

IT'S good new for the economy but bad news for borrowers.

There's not going to be an interest rate cut next week and the chances of a reduction next year are slim as the non-mining parts of the economy are expected to pick up pace.

All 14 economists surveyed by AAP say the Reserve Bank of Australia will not cut the cash rate at its board meeting on Tuesday.

Only eight of those surveyed expect a rate cut next year.

The mining and resources investment boom is at, or near, its peak and other parts of the economy are expected to pick up pace and have a more significant role in driving the Australian economy.

Citigroup head of economics Paul Brennan said there is evidence that the Australian economy is starting to rebalance, helped by recent rate cuts.

"The RBA's previous assessment that the influence of previous interest rates cuts working through the economy still holds true and there is data to show that domestic expenditure is slowly improving," he said.

"Housing and equity markets and measures of sentiment have either remained largely stable or strengthened further."

September quarter capital expenditure figures, released on Thursday, were stronger than expected, which Mr Brennan said shows mining investment will still be quite strong for some time to come.

"Mining capex plans are not falling off a cliff while the capex plans of non-mining companies are starting to firm," he said.

"Information from other business surveys also suggests some resilience in overall business investment and this resilience could be sustained if the recent rebound in confidence is sustained."

HSBC chief economist Paul Bloxham said a lower exchange rate will also help the domestic economy and save the RBA from cutting its rate again.

In the past six weeks the Australian dollar has steadily fallen, losing six US cents since October 25 to its current level just below 91 US cents.

"RBA governor Glenn Stevens has suggested that it is his judgement that the Australian dollar is currently above levels that we would expect to see in the medium term," Mr Bloxham said.

"Our own view is still that the Australian dollar will be around 90 US cents at year end and will fall modestly through 2014 to 86 US cents."

As new mining and resource projects come into production, mineral exports and housing will be the main drivers for the Australian economy in 2014, he said.

"We expect the housing boom to continue as low interest rates continue to provide support," Mr Bloxham said.

"The recent pick up in consumer confidence is expected to translate into a modest pick up in household consumption."

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Church dissent over abuse approach

ANGLICANS in Australia would take a dim view if the church sold off its multi-million dollar assets to settle with abuse victims, the head of the church says.

The primate of the Anglican Church of Australia, Phillip Aspinall, told a royal commission the church needs a mandatory compensation scheme imposed on it so it can deal fairly with sex abuse victims.

Dr Aspinall said the only way a compensation scheme would work was if it was imposed from outside.

The Anglican Church of Australia is not a unified structure, dioceses have primary power and can reject or adopt laws passed by the General Synod, Dr Aspinall told the final day of public hearings into how the Diocese of Grafton dealt with victims of sex abuse at a church orphanage in northern NSW.

"Many confuse our structures with the Roman Catholics and presume the primate has coercive powers akin to the pope," he said in a statement submitted to the royal commission.

"The belief that the primate of the Anglican Church is effectively the CEO of Australian's Anglicans is wrong.

"It may well be helpful if the royal commission were able to achieve a uniform mandatory compensation scheme which would ensure parity, not just between Anglican dioceses, but across government organisations, so that we don't have different classes of victims.

"It would be much quicker and simpler for us if that were imposed on us from outside and dioceses would not fall into the trap that Grafton did in terms of focusing on financial matters to the detriment of victims."

The commission has learned that Grafton is asset rich with properties valued at approximately $200 million, but had a debt of between $10 million or $12 million dollars because it built a private school that was not attracting students.

Dr Aspinall told the commission that across 23 Anglican dioceses their wealth would be in assets, not cash.

Justice Peter McClellan asked if there had been any church discussion that it might need to sell assets to make settlement payments.

Dr Aspinall said there might have been, but every diocese would find it hard to achieve as the assets were houses and churches and the people who had raised funds to build them would take a "dim view" if they were being sold for this purpose.

He went on to say that with a mandatory compensation system a diocese would simply be given a determination by a statutory body and be required to find the money.

"Then they could focus on the financial aspects and be forced to deal with it."

He also said it would be difficult, if not impossible, for the church to implement that kind of system itself, as it would require every diocese to agree.

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse has heard Grafton diocese tried to deny liability for the North Coast Children's Home when more that 40 former residents alleged horrific physical, sexual and psychological abuse.

After years of legal wrangling, a without-prejudice settlement was reached in 2007 which saw 39 victims accept what has been described as a paltry payment of about $10,000 each.

The commission also heard that the then Bishop of Grafton, Keith Slater, was focused on the diocese's debt problems.

Bishop Slater has apologised for his handling of the affair.

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RAAF warns homes face jet noise impact

THE RAAF says a local council in NSW is allowing people to build near one of its busiest bases where they will be blasted with aircraft noise.

Air force chief Air Marshal Geoff Brown said he was disappointed with decisions by Port Stephens Council to provide exemptions to its planning rules for some developments near RAAF Williamtown, north of Newcastle.

He said new developments were inside the contours on the Australian Noise Exposure Forecast (ANEF) map that were deemed unsuitable by the relevant Australian Standards.

"Home owners that purchase these new developments are acquiring properties that will be exposed to high levels of aircraft noise both now with F/A-18A/B Hornets and F-35A in the future," he said in a statement.

Air Marshal Brown said RAAF Base Williamtown was a strategic national asset providing vital training for the next generation of air combat aircraft.

Aircraft noise is a particular issue for RAAF Williamtown and the Salt Ash Air Weapons range where residential encroachment and the operation of Hornet and Hawk jets has produced noise complaints.

The RAAF has taken some measures to mitigate noise including using particular flight profiles and limiting flying periods.

Air Marshal Brown said the continuing trend by Port Stephens Council to approve development in the ANEF "conditionally acceptable" zone undermined the hard work to reduce the impact of aircraft noise.

He said aircraft noise would never be eliminated and it would never be possible for home owners to soundproof their backyards.

"We will continue to work with the Williamtown community through our fly neighbourly policies. However our focus will be on working with existing home owners," he said.

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Navy show off sub rescue capability

THE navy has shown it can rescue crew members from a sunken submarine, should that ever be necessary.

The submarine escape and rescue exercise involved flying a special rescue submersible from Henderson, Western Australia to the east cast, where it was loaded onto Australian Defence Vessel (ADV) Ocean Shield.

The 21.5 tonne LR5 submersible then docked with submarine HMAS Farncomb bottomed in 112 metres of water, "rescued" crew members and returned them to the surface where they were transferred into a decompression chamber.

Australian navy submarine force commander Captain Mark Potter said it was unlikely this equipment would ever be needed.

"Should the unthinkable happen, it is essential that we have established and well practiced procedures in place to rescue personnel," he said in a statement.

During Exercise Black Carillon, the navy worked closely with contractor James Fisher Defence to test the equipment on the east coast.

This was the first time that ADV Ocean Shield was used as a mother ship.

Australia is a member of the International Submarine Escape and Rescue Liaison Organisation which would provide international support should one of the six Australian submarines be disabled.

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Indonesia parliament hearing on spy issue

Indonesia says Australia will have to agree to a code of conduct before relations can normalise. Source: AAP

THE Indonesian parliament's defence and foreign affairs committee will hold a special hearing into the spying allegations that has caused a diplomatic rift between Jakarta and Canberra.

It's understood the list of senior Indonesian officials expected to appear at the Commission One hearing includes Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa, Defence Minister Purnomo Yusgiantoro and the head of the State Intelligence Office (BIN), Marciano Norman.

"The agenda will be phone-tapping," a Commission One official said, while also confirming the list of those asked to attend.

National police chief Sutarman and the head of the National Encryption Body, Major General Djoko Setiadi, have also been asked to attend.

The hearing into the alleged phone-hacking undertaken by Australian spies in 2009, to be held on Thursday morning, comes amid continued dissatisfaction in Jakarta over Canberra's response to the spying claims.

Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has demanded Australia sign a code of conduct that will address the spying issue, also insisting that an agreement must be ratified before relations between Jakarta and Canberra can return to normal.

Prime Minister Tony Abbott on Wednesday agreed with Dr Yudhoyono's proposal that trusted envoys meet to start the process to rebuild ties between the two nations, but the Indonesian president has made it clear he believes a "code of ethics and protocols" is needed to map out the future relationship.

He insists an agreement must be signed by him and Mr Abbott before the relationship can be fully normalised.

Mr Abbott embraced the idea of an envoy meeting although he will take time to fully respond to Dr Yudhoyono's statement over the next few days.

"I think that's a good way forward," he told reporters in Melbourne.

The prime minister said he was keen for a quick resolution built "on a strong and lasting basis" and has proposed the establishment of a security round table, so both nations could build greater mutual trust.

"Obviously, that relationship does depend on a great deal of intelligence sharing," he said.

"I want to deepen and extend that in the weeks and months ahead."

Foreign Minister Julie Bishop could be given the delicate job of envoy.

While her appointment as special envoy hasn't been confirmed, it's understood Ms Bishop is a strong candidate given Dr Natalegawa is likely to be the Indonesian counterpart.

Dr Yudhoyono suspended military, security and people-smuggling co-operation last week after revelations Australian spies targeted his mobile phone, and those of his inner circle.

He welcomed Mr Abbott's commitment that "Australia would not do anything in the future" to harm or damage relations with Indonesia, but the president is believed to be upset by the lack of an apology for the 2009 phone-tapping activities.

Indonesian Industrial Minister Mohamad Suleman Hidayat was quoted in the Koran Tempo newspaper on Wednesday as saying Dr Yudhoyono was disappointed the letter from Mr Abbott did not contain an apology.

"The president is not embarrassed, he's angry. Tell Australia, I'm angry," Mr Hidayat reportedly said.

Mr Abbott has refused to comment on the contents of his letter to the president.

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US, Russia throw weight behind Syria talks

The US and Russia have thrown their full weight behind Syrian peace talks set for January 22. Source: AAP

THE US and Russia have thrown their full weight behind long-delayed Syria peace talks that the UN says finally would be held on January 22, though it is not yet clear whether key sponsors of the warring sides would attend.

"We haven't established a list yet," UN and Arab League mediator Lakhdar Brahimi said on Monday.

That left open the participation of Saudi Arabia, seen as a major sponsor the majority Sunni Muslim rebels, and Iran, steadfast backer of the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad which is dominated by Alawites derived from Islam's Shi'ite sect.

"These two countries will certainly be among the possible participants," Brahimi said after closed-door talks in Geneva with US and Russian officials.

The talks will bring together the Syrian government and the opposition at the negotiating table for the first time since the rebellion against Assad erupted in March 2011.

UN chief Ban Ki-moon announced the date for the long-delayed conference on Syria dubbed Geneva II at the UN headquarters in New York.

"At long last and for the first time, the Syrian government and opposition will meet at the negotiating table instead of the battlefield," Ban told reporters.

"The fighting has raged on far too long - with more than 100,000 dead, almost nine million driven from their homes, countless missing and detained, and terrible violations of human rights," Ban said, calling the war the "biggest threat to international peace".

The US, which has long urged Assad to step down, called the upcoming talks the "best opportunity" to form a new transitional government to lead Syria out of war.

"In order to end the bloodshed and give the Syrian people a chance to meet their long-deferred aspirations, Syria needs new leadership," US Secretary of State John Kerry said in a statement.

He said he recognised "that the obstacles on the road to a political solution are many, and we will enter the Geneva conference on Syria with our eyes wide open".

Russia, which broadly supports the survival of Assad's regime, also underlined the importance of the talks.

On Monday, Russian President Vladimir Putin held a 35-minute audience with Pope Francis in the Vatican during which both men discussed the urgent need "to promote concrete initiatives for a peaceful solution to the conflict, favouring negotiation", the Holy See said.

They agreed any solution should involve "the various ethnic and religious groups, recognising their essential role in society", it said in a statement.

Kerry has been working with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov to organise the peace talks with the UN since May.

White House deputy spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters travelling with President Barack Obama aboard Air Force One that "we'll necessarily need to end (Geneva) with Assad leaving power".

Brahimi, meanwhile, said the country's warring sides should not wait until January 22 to rein in fighting.

"We very strongly appeal to the Syrian government and the opposition to not to wait for the conference," he said, urging the sides to "diminish the violence (and) release prisoners and detainees of all sorts".

He admitted though, "being realistic", that "a lot of the things that need to happen will happen after the conference starts".

Brahimi said the conference would start "without any preconditions".

The opposition Syrian National Coalition has agreed to attend, but its authority is not recognised by Islamist rebel groups that are proving the most effective on the battlefield.

Brahimi said the opposition coalition had a "very important role to play" and had to be "as representative as possible" for the talks to work.

"We are in touch both with the government and the opposition. We are asking them to name their delegations as early as possible, hopefully before the end of the year," said the Algerian mediator, who previously was UN envoy for Afghanistan and Iraq.

"This conference is really for the Syrians to come to Geneva and talk to one another and hopefully start a credible, workable effective peace process for their country."

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Mining boom waste will haunt PM: Windsor

Former MP Tony Windsor (pic) says mismanagement of the mining boom will return to haunt Tony Abbott. Source: AAP

RETIRED MP Tony Windsor says Howard-era mismanagement of the mining boom will return to haunt Prime Minister Tony Abbott.

The former key federal independent has backed a union report's calls for a sovereign wealth fund to help share the benefits of the resources industry among more Australians.

Mr Windsor launched the report, commissioned by the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union, at an event in Sydney on Tuesday.

The report found that although the resources boom had helped shelter Australia from the worst of the global financial crisis, governments had "squandered" a chance to efficiently share its profits.

It argued Norway had done a better job of maximising the permanent gains from oil and gas extraction in the North Sea.

The report called for Australia to follow the Norwegian model and establish an Australia Development Fund to use some of the proceeds of resources development for long-term projects.

Mr Windsor said it was a sensible approach.

"During the Howard years we really didn't take advantage of the boom, we created a lot of middle-class welfare," Mr Howard said.

"I think a lot of people are aware now that you can't just go through boom cycles, issue currency to the community, and then when the bust comes - and Abbott's going to face this exact problem ... it's very difficult to take it back.

"The concept of a fund is that it does take advantage of the good times and smooth out the ripples."

The report found that the thriving resources sector had boosted jobs but the fly-in fly-out (FIFO) nature of much of the employment did not help mining towns.

It did however increase cost-of-living pressures for the towns' permanent communities.

And the share of income going to employee compensation has declined over the past 20 years, the report found, from 30 per cent to 20 per cent.

CFMEU president Tony Maher said the profits from Australia's mining boom had largely been exported.

"Too much has gone into the pockets of shareholders and management, overwhelmingly based overseas, and too little to the Australian community that owns the resources," he said.

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More beach monitoring after shark attack

Surveillance will continue in WA's south west during school levers week after a fatal shark attack. Source: AAP

A LARGE patrol vessel from Perth and aerial surveillance will continue in Western Australia's south west while school leavers are in the area after a fatal shark attack.

Police will be in control of a school leavers party at Meelup beach on Wednesday night but the Department of Fisheries will work with them to monitor the water.

Fisheries Shark Response Unit spokesman Tony Cappelluti said while people needed to be cautious, there was no suggestion that the event should be cancelled.

Chris Boyd, 35, was surfing at the popular surf break Umbies off Gracetown when a shark, believed to be a great white, bounced off another surfer's board and attacked him on Saturday morning.

Beaches were closed and authorities searched unsuccessfully for the shark, which was deemed an imminent risk, but the search was called off on Monday night and the beaches were re-opened.

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New "selfie stick" named after Zuckerburg

An Australian retailer is helping out the selfie taker, with a new tool called the "selfie stick". Source: AAP

IT is the ultimate statement of 21st century self expression - with the selfie so ubiquitous it's even recognised by the Oxford English Dictionary.

Now Australian retailer Kogan is giving the selfie taker a helping hand, with a new tool named after Facebook founder Mark Zuckerburg.

The $19 "Selfie Stick" is an extendable pole with an attachment for phone or camera, a foam handle to stop dropped phones, and even a mirror to check the hair and make-up before taking the shot.

And in a cheeky move, Kogan boss Ruslan Kogan sent one of the stick's to the man it was named after, in a bid to get him to post a first-ever selfie on the social media platform he created.

"I've done a bit of Facebook stalking, and was horrified to see that you haven't posted a Facebook selfie yourself," Mr Kogan wrote in an open letter.

"We know that selfies would not exist if it weren't for your entrepreneurial achievements. So, we thought wed name the product after you."

Mr Kogan said if Mr Zuckerburg declined his offer, then he had a plan B.

"If Zuckerberg refuses to do it, Kogan will change the official name of the product to the Kardashian selfie stick," Mr Kogan said.

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Paparazzo becomes Geelong mayor

Former paparazzo Darryn Lyons has become the new mayor of the City of Geelong. Source: AAP

HE is known as a former paparazzo and Big Brother contestant - now Darryn Lyons is the newly elected Mayor of Geelong.

Mr Lyons, who was born in Geelong and first worked as a photographer at local newspapers, comfortably defeated 15 other candidates with 38,406 first preference votes and 29.79 per cent of the poll.

His nearest rival Stephanie Asher received 18,608 of first preferences.

The mayor-elect, who sported pink hair and a "surgically created" six-pack when he was a contestant on Celebrity Big Brother in the UK wants people to look beyond his colourful image.

"There's a lot more to me beyond the hair, at the end of the day there is a pretty savvy bloke with a passion for his home town," he told AAP.

Mr Lyons left Geelong at 22 and found fame and fortune as a UK newspaper photographer and set up his own company taking paparazzi photos.

But he says he never forgot his roots and returned to Geelong about two years ago.

"I could live anywhere in the world if I wanted to, but I've come home and I want to live here," he said.

He said beautification of the city was his top priority as mayor and he wanted to promote a positive image of the city.

"At the end if the day I have no magic wand," he said.

"I think it (Geelong) needs a little bit of a different eye ... I want to talk about what's great that's going on in Geelong."

The 48-year-old will be officially sworn in as the City of Geelong mayor at a council meeting on Tuesday evening.

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Stealth experts wins defence science prize

AN expert in stealth technology has won the 2013 Minister's Award for Achievement in Defence Science.

Assistant Defence Minister Stuart Robert said the work of Andrew Amiet from the Defence Science and Technology Organisation (DSTO) had made military vehicles and vessels harder for an enemy to detect.

Dr Amiet is a fine example of the brilliant scientific minds that make a significant contribution to Defence capability, he said.

"Dr Amiet is responsible for developing and evaluating materials with stealth capabilities for use on submarines, ANZAC ships and Army vehicles to minimise their detection by radar, sonar, infrared and other electronic systems, thus significantly improving their operational capability," he said in a statement.

Chief Defence Scientist Alex Zelinsky said Dr Amiet's outstanding research had delivered a range of stealth products, from very light radar absorbing materials to high-density structural systems.

Dr Amiet said he wanted to reduce the probability of Australian Defence Force vehicles and vessels being detected, increasing the effectiveness of countermeasures.

The Minister's Award for Achievement in Defence Science has been presented annually since 1988, recognising outstanding and original contributions capable of enhancing Australia's defence effectiveness and efficiency.

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More gases erupt from Indonesian volcano

Mount Sinabung, one of Indonesia's most active volcanoes, has unleashed fresh volcanic ash. Source: AAP

POWERFUL bursts of hot ash and gravel have erupted from a rumbling volcano in western Indonesia, sending panicked villagers streaming down the sides of the mountain.

Six new eruptions on Monday morning sent lava and searing gas tumbling up to 1.5 kilometres down the slopes of Mount Sinabung in North Sumatra province.

Volcanic material spewed as high as 2000 metres into the air a day after authorities raised the volcano's alert status to the highest level.

About 15,000 people have been evacuated from 17 villages in the danger zone 5 kilometres around the crater, National Disaster Mitigation Agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said.

The evacuation zone was expanded from three kilometres.

Thick, grey ash covered villages, farms and trees as far as 70 kilometres north of Mount Sinabung's crater, hitting the towns of Binjai and Langkat.

"Everything turned hot surrounding us," said Jatah Surbakti, a 45-year-old farmer who fled with his wife and four children to a shelter on trucks provided by the local disaster agency, along with hundreds other villagers.

"We were running in panic under the rain of ash and gravel ... I heard many women and children screaming and crying," he said, adding that his fruit and vegetable farms were destroyed by the ash and his children's schools were disrupted.

The 2600-metre Mount Sinabung has sporadically erupted since September.

An eruption in 2010 killed two people and caught scientists off guard because the volcano had been quiet for four centuries.

Transportation Ministry spokesman Bambang Ervan said airlines had been notified to avoid routes near the mountain.

Mount Sinabung is among around 129 active volcanoes in Indonesia, which is prone to seismic upheaval due to its location on the Pacific "Ring of Fire", an arc of volcanoes and fault lines encircling the Pacific Basin.

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Almost 90% of Indons want harsher action

ALMOST 90 per cent of Indonesians want their government to deliver an even harsher warning to Australia over spying revelations, although less than eight per cent support a military strike.

A survey published by Indonesia's biggest selling national newspaper, Kompas, also shows 63 per cent of people agree with the decision to recall ambassador Nadjib Riphat Kesoema from Canberra.

Mr Nadjib, who said in an interview also published on Monday that the decision to recall him was necessary to send a strong message to Australia, is yet to return to Canberra.

"We're now showing that there's something going on that does not please Indonesia," he said.

"There are lots of diplomatic instruments that can be used ... and the ambassador being called back for consultation, that shows that something's happening.

"I don't want to talk about the relationship degradation because the Indonesian embassy is still there (and functioning) and the Australian embassy is also still here.

"But I was recalled to express (our anger)."

An official with the Indonesian Foreign Ministry confirmed to AAP on Monday that Mr Nadjib would remain in Jakarta until after the spying issue was resolved.

The Kompas poll, published on Monday, comes in the wake of relations between Jakarta and Canberra slipping to their lowest level since the East Timor crisis in 1999, following revelations Australian spies bugged the phones of Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and his wife.

According to the poll of Indonesians in 12 of the largest cities across the archipelago, 89 per cent of people support Australia being given a "harsh warning", while 39 per cent of people want further cuts to diplomatic ties.

The poll also showed 7.6 per cent of people would support some sort of military action, while an overwhelming majority of 91.5 per cent were against such a move.

The vast majority of those surveyed (87 per cent) also believe Indonesia's intelligence capabilities have been proven to be weak as a result of the eavesdropping revelations.

Indonesia has already suspended military co-operation with Australia, as well as calling a halt to joint efforts in the areas of law enforcement and measures aimed at combating people smuggling.

Dr Yudhoyono is yet to respond to a letter from Prime Minister Tony Abbott, written in response to demands for an explanation of Australia's spying activities and delivered to him in Bali on Saturday.

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