Row grows over Qld sex offender jail terms

Queensland Attorney-General Jarrod Bleijie announced plans to amend legislation over sex offenders. Source: AAP

QUEENSLAND Attorney-General Jarrod Bleijie is on a collision course with civil libertarians and lawyers after announcing plans to strip courts of the power to set indefinite jail terms for some sex offenders.

He wants to rush through parliament, as early as Thursday, changes that would give him the power to say which sex offenders should be locked up until they die.

Mr Bleijie has the backing of child protection advocate Hetty Johnston, who says judges worry too much about offenders' civil rights.

"Unfortunately it is the civil rights of sex offenders that take precedence over the rights of the community and children to be safe," the Bravehearts founder said.

But Australian Council for Civil Liberties president Terry O'Gorman said the move was "legislative lunacy" and urged a judicial rebellion.

Queensland Law Society (QLS) president Annette Bradfield also questioned the move and other legislation recently rushed through parliament in the dead of night.

Mr Bleijie insists it is legislation of last resort that would only be used to keep the worst of the worst in jail.

"Some of these people just can't be rehabilitated. They should never be released from prison," he said on Wednesday.

Mr Gorman accused the attorney-general of dictating to judges and called on the judiciary to stand up to him.

"This is the latest piece of legislative lunacy from an attorney-general who refuses to consult with anyone other than those who agree with his views," he told AAP.

Mr O'Gorman said it was the second time in two days that Mr Bleijie had ridden roughshod over Queensland's judicial system.

Laws passed by parliament on Wednesday morning mean judges now have to sentence bikies convicted of serious crimes to years of additional jail time, simply because they are gang members.

Ms Bradfield said the QLS was concerned at the lack of consultation over proposed legislation and at the executive wielding powers to give criminals added jail time.

"Judges are trained to make those determinations and politicians simply don't have the qualifications or the experience in those regards," she said.

Opposition Leader Annastacia Palaszczuk has accused Mr Bleijie of wanting to be "judge and jury" and called for him to quit.

"Yet again we are seeing the arrogance of this government, which wants to do anything and everything with its massive majority," she told parliament.

"Democracy is under direct attack."

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HSU to chase Williamson settlement

THE Health Services Union says it's determined to wring a $5 million settlement from its disgraced former boss Michael Williamson, who has apparently declared himself bankrupt.

The former HSU secretary and Labor Party president on Tuesday pleaded guilty to various charges including defrauding the union of almost $1 million.

It's reported he declared himself bankrupt on the same day.

With hopes of putting an end to "the Williamson era", the HSU also revealed it had secured a $5 million judgment in a Supreme Court civil claim.

The HSU's Gerard Hayes says the union will do what it can to claw back the money from Williamson, bankrupt or not.

For starters, it hopes to recoup what it can from Williamson's six-bedroom home at Maroubra, which went to auction on Wednesday night. But according to Macquarie Radio, the property failed to sell, with no one putting up a bid.

The three-level rendered brick home on Meagher Ave - with parquet floors, in-ground pool, wine cellar and ocean views - was expected to fetch $1.5 million.

Mr Hayes said union members could still take some comfort from Williamson's guilty plea, the civil settlement and an apology that came with it.

"He's in survival mode and manoeuvring however he can," he told AAP.

"At least the apology is an acknowledgment that he's done what he's done."

In addition, under the civil settlement, the union will not have to pay Williamson's $1.1 million superannuation and $600,000 of claimed leave entitlements.

"This is 1.7 million that is not flowing out of the union," Mr Hayes said.

The agreement was brokered through mediation by former federal attorney-general Robert McClelland, the HSU says.

In the apology, Williamson said he wished to "place on record my sincere apology to all of you".

"You placed your trust in me when I was the General Secretary and I abused that trust," he said.

"I apologise unreservedly to all of you for my actions, which were not in keeping with the position I formerly held."

He says he will "have to live with this matter until the day I die" and urged members "not to desert the union".

Williamson faces up to 30 years in jail.

A date for his sentencing will be set on October 25.

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Italy may send Nazi's body to Germany

Clashes have broken out in Italy outside a Nazi war criminal's funeral which had to be suspended. Source: AAP

ITALY appears set to send the body of Nazi war criminal Erich Priebke to Germany as it commemorated the 70th anniversary of a round-up of Jews from the historic Jewish quarter of Rome.

Clashes erupted in a town near Rome on Tuesday as a Catholic ultra-conservative sect tried to stage a funeral for the unrepentant former SS officer who was convicted over a massacre of 335 civilians.

The funeral was cancelled by a police order after some neo-Nazi sympathisers broke into the seminary in Albano Laziale and tried to stage a rally as hundreds of protesters outside shouted "Assassin!"

The coffin was then driven to a military airport outside Rome during the night, after Priebke's lawyer and friend, Paolo Giachini, gave up his power of attorney for the funeral arrangements.

"We are planning to resolve the situation today. We are in contact with Germany," Rome prefect Giuseppe Pecoraro told reporters on Wednesday.

"We had to cancel the funeral yesterday because there was a risk that it could have become a neo-Nazi demonstration," he said.

At least two people were detained by police at the scene of the clashes, where some of the protesters were seen fighting with bottles and chains.

A rock was later thrown at the windscreen of the van driving Priebke's coffin to the airport.

Protesters had earlier kicked and spat on the hearse as it arrived for the start of the funeral.

The Holocaust denier died on Friday at the age of 100 and has provoked outrage even in death with the Vatican issuing an unprecedented order forbidding any Catholic church in Rome from holding his funeral.

He had been living under house arrest in the Italian capital after being extradited in 1998 from Argentina, where he had fled with a Vatican travel document soon after World War II.

Priebke had wanted to be buried in Argentina next to his wife but the government there earlier said it would not accept his body.

Jewish groups and relatives of the people he executed said he should be cremated and his ashes scattered to erase every trace.

There is concern that a burial could create a pilgrimage point for neo-Nazi sympathisers.

The furore comes at a particularly sensitive time in Italy, on the anniversary of the round-up of the Jews from the Rome Ghetto on October 16, 1943.

More than 1000 Jews were taken away to concentration camps and only 16 returned.

Speaking ahead of a ceremony in the Ghetto synagogue, Rome mayor Ignazio Marino said the city could not tolerate holding Priebke's funeral.

"Rome could not accept the funeral of a man who actively took part in the massacre of 335 people, shooting them in the back of the neck," he said.

The Gestapo ordered the mass killing in the Ardeatine caves near Rome as retaliation for a partisan attack which killed 33 German soldiers.

They shot 10 Italians for every dead German, and five more who had been brought to the caves by mistake.

Italian President Giorgio Napolitano and other top officials were expected at the synagogue ceremony with Holocaust survivors later on Wednesday.

"Today is the day to remember what happened 70 years ago, to remember the wound, the tragic moment in the history of our city," he said.

"The seed of pain and violence still exists and we have to root it out through memory," said the mayor, who will travel to Auschwitz this weekend with a group of Rome high-schoolers.

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US pins hopes on Senate leaders

The White House has rejected the latest effort by Republicans to resolve an impasse over the budget. Source: AAP

THE US is hours from a fateful fiscal deadline, with a chaotic political stand-off threatening to trigger a debt default and rock the global economy.

Hopes that congress would agree to raise the government's borrowing authority as required by midnight on Wednesday (1500 AEDT Thursday) rested with last-gasp talks in the Senate - with America's top-notch credit rating on the line.

Any deal though would have to make it through the Republican-led House of Representatives, where conservative Tea Party lawmakers have thwarted previous compromise efforts in a bid to undermine Democratic President Barack Obama.

If congress fails to raise the $US16.7 trillion ($A17.56 trillion) debt ceiling in time, the US Treasury would begin to run out of money to meet all US obligations and slip towards a historic default.

Such a scenario could badly damage the US recovery, saddle American consumers with higher interest payments and send economic shock waves into fragile global economies.

In Asia, stocks fell early on Wednesday as investors kept an eye on the American impasse.

Hopes for an exit strategy rest with talks between Senate majority leader Harry Reid and Republican minority leader Mitch McConnell.

The two old foes saddled up after manoeuvring by the House on Tuesday dissolved in chaos. Republican Speaker John Boehner proved unable to win support from his caucus and unwilling to use minority Democratic votes to raise the debt ceiling and reopen the US government after a two week shutdown.

In the face of the deadline, the US political system, divided between Obama's Democrats and Republicans who run the House, has virtually ground to a halt.

Major world powers have been left looking on in dismay at the brinkmanship in Washington, unable to do anything to protect their own economic interests, with many deeply invested in US Treasuries - hitherto seen as one of the safest global safe havens.

Amid rising anxiety on the markets, the financial rating agency Fitch put the US on warning for a downgrade from its top-grade AAA spot.

Despite the deepening impasse, Obama said he still expected the issue would be resolved in the end.

"My expectation is that this gets solved, but we don't have a lot of time," he told an ABC television affiliate in New York.

"What I'm suggesting to the congressional caucus is to avoid any posturing ... do what's right, open the government and make sure we pay our bills."

What was essentially a wasted day, with precious few hours to spare on Tuesday, unfolded as House Republicans tried to extend US borrowing authority until February 7 and reopen the government until December 15.

Several draft bills would have constrained aspects of Obama's signature healthcare law - and in effect stood no chance to pass the Democratic-led Senate.

But Boehner used the measures to try to corral the Tea Party faction and to pressure the Senate - but in the end was unable to amass sufficient Republican votes to even put the measures on the floor.

Senate talks, which had been on hold all day pending developments in the House, were quickly resumed on Tuesday evening.

Leadership aides on both sides said they were "optimistic" that an agreement was within reach.

"We're making very, very good progress, we're not there yet, but we're getting real close," said Democratic senator Chuck Schumer.

"I think the markets should feel pretty good about what's going on here tonight."

Republican congressman Charlie Dent of Pennsylvania told CNN: "I believe that John Boehner will likely be in a position where he will have to essentially pass the bill that is negotiated between senators McConnell and Reid, and I believe that the House will first pass it and send it to the Senate."

The likely Senate deal would require Democrats to make a minor concession on Obamacare. But the provision would fall well short of the drive to delay or defund the historic law which prompted Republicans to launch the government shutdown strategy and to use the debt ceiling hike as leverage.

Earlier, Reid furiously accused Boehner of seeking to save his own political skin at the expense of the US.

"Let's be clear: The House legislation will not pass the Senate," Reid said. "I am very disappointed with John Boehner, who would once again try to preserve his role at the expense of the country."

Boehner may once again on Wednesday be left with the unenviable choice that has come to define his speakership in Washington's divided government.

Does he stick with the Tea Party faction of his party, and possibly save his job but risk culpability in sending the US economy into a first default of modern times?

Or does he try to pass a compromise plan acceptable to Senate Democrats and Obama, with the help of minority Democratic votes - a scenario that could fritter away his party power-base and possibly cost him his job?

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Former HSU boss pleads guilty to fraud

Disgraced former HSU boss Michael Williamson admitted he defrauded the union out of almost $1m. Source: AAP

DISGRACED former Health Services Union boss Michael Williamson faces 30 years in jail and civil action by his former union for fraudulently pocketing almost $1 million.

Williamson pleaded guilty on Tuesday to four fraud-related charges arising from his conduct while he was president of the HSU.

The former ALP national president initially faced 50 charges but, in light of his guilty plea, the remainder were withdrawn.

Some will still be taken into account in sentencing and Williamson faces as long as 30 years behind bars.

He also faces paying back some, if not all, of his ill-gotten gains.

The HSU will launch civil proceedings against him in an attempt to claw back some of the $1 million he got away with.

"Now that he has pleaded guilty, what it does is open the possibility of recovering some of the funds on behalf of the union," HSU president Chris Brown told AAP.

Williamson pleaded guilty in the Downing Centre Court to creating false invoices for work performed by CANME, a company registered in his wife's name.

The work was never done but court documents showed the HSU still made 22 payments each worth $15,385 to a CANME bank account.

According to the statement of agreed facts, Williamson used the funds deposited in the CANME account to maintain his family's lifestyle, including paying private school fees, mortgage payments and clothing.

He pleaded guilty to defrauding HSU out of $338,470 - the total amount paid to CANME between July 2006 and June 2009.

He also pleaded guilty to defrauding printing firm Access Focus out of $600,000 in cash between December 2006 and February 2010.

The charge relates to Williamson proposing Access Focus inflate its invoices to the HSU and provide him with secret payments in the process.

A guilty plea was also entered with regard to recruiting Carron Gilleland to hinder the police investigation by destroying American Express statements.

Court documents revealed Mrs Gilleland, the director of a business with her husband that printed a HSU magazine, provided credit cards to Williamson at his request, and later to former MP Craig Thomson and HSU staffer Cheryl McMillan.

Williamson told the Gillelands in 2012 how to destroy Amex statements.

Chief Magistrate Graeme Henson committed Williamson's case to the Sydney District Court on October 25, where a sentence date is expected to be set.

Whistleblower and former HSU national secretary Kathy Jackson said a judicial inquiry was still needed.

"(I felt) relief to say the least but more important I think there is a case for a judicial inquiry to be heard," she told AAP.

Ms Jackson said there were many things outside the scope of a police investigation that an official inquiry could deal with, including the influence of factions.

HSU NSW secretary Gerard Hayes said the most difficult period in the HSU's history was now over.

"Our members deserve a union they can be proud of," he said.

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Plibersek gets Burke's disappointment

Former Labor speaker Anna Burke has criticised the way the opposition front bench has been selected. Source: AAP

NEW federal Labor deputy Leader Tanya Plibersek understands that some senior MPs are disappointed they didn't make it to the new opposition frontbench.

But she doesn't accept claims the shadow ministry was being decided by a "couple of blokes", pointing to the inclusion of 11 women.

With Labor getting ready for the return of parliament in the second week of November, Opposition Leader Bill Shorten will reveal on Friday who gets which portfolios before Monday's shadow cabinet meeting.

Victorian MP Anna Burke lashed out at factional power plays within caucus, saying she was "bitter and disappointed" at losing out on the position of chief opposition whip because of "a couple of blokes sitting round a room carving up the spoils".

"I think Anna's very focused on the half empty at the moment," Ms Plibersek said on Tuesday.

"She's speaking from a place of disappointment ... she feels like she's been overlooked."

Ms Burke retains her position of Speaker until her Liberal successor Bronwyn Bishop is formally installed.

Her comments were followed by reports another senior Labor MP, Senator Jacinta Collins, was also disappointed at being overlooked, particularly by her own Victorian Right faction.

Although Ms Plibersek said she would meet Ms Burke to discuss her concerns, new Labor MP Alannah MacTiernan said factions were a reality in all political parties.

"I think there was a broad cross section of people that were selected, and it's probably a pretty reasonable line-up," she said.

However, the former West Australian government minister said there could be improvements.

"It has been accepted that we must continually strive to do things better and in a more inclusive way," she told reporters in Canberra.

Another Victorian Labor MP, Brendan O'Connor, said the opposition frontbench was far more representative compared to the coalition's under Tony Abbott.

"We have almost four times the number of women in our ministry," he said.

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Snitching bikies can avoid long jail terms

A Queensland government plan to lock up criminal bikies in a super jail could lead to more crime. Source: AAP

BIKIE gang members can avoid the extraordinary jail terms threatened by new laws in Queensland if they turn informer.

The laws being rushed through state parliament will hand bikies engaging in serious criminal activity such as murder or dangerous drug possession an extra 15 years of mandatory jail time.

The penalties for bikie gang office bearers are even harsher: an extra 25 years on top of their initial sentence.

And those sentences could be served in a special maximum security jail which the government has proposed to specifically house the state's worst bikie criminals.

But in what Premier Campbell Newman says will be an effective way to gather intelligence, jail time will be waived if an offender gives authorities information about bikie gangs and their criminal activities.

"The only way they can get off those additional mandatory penalties is essentially to provide information that's of use to the police to help bring down the gang," Mr Newman said.

The government was also seeking royal assent to list all bikie gangs as criminal organisations, including the Finks, the Rebels, the Bandidos and the Hells Angels.

If a new gang is created, the government can add them to the list based on police evidence.

Mandatory prison sentences, laws banning bikies from owning, operating and working in tattoo parlours and hefty jail terms for assaulting police are the first anti-bikie laws the Newman government are expected to pass in parliament on Tuesday night.

Attorney-General Jarrod Bleijie said it would be up to jurors to determine whether an offender was a member of a criminal gang, or a "vicious lawless associate."

"Where you may currently under law face a five-year sentence (for grievous bodily harm), it can potentially be a 25 to 30-year sentence (for gang members)," he told reporters.

"This is where the deterrent kicks in."

Mr Newman said severe penalties would also apply to three or more gang members caught gathering together.

"We are going to make every effort to completely destroy these gangs. We are not joking," Mr Newman said.

The premier admitted gangs were well-resourced and he expected legal challenges in the High Court, but said the government had been very careful and the Solicitor General heavily involved in drafting the laws.

Criminologists and critics fear the government's taking it too far.

Former Gold Coast detective Terry Goldsworthy says the proposed laws are unfair, and set a dangerous new precedent for double standards in Queensland.

He says there's now one set of rules to deal with bikies who commit crimes, and another set for others who commit exactly the same offences.

Australian Council for Civil Liberties president Terry O'Gorman says the bikie jail wouldn't work as there's no evidence to back the government's claim bikies are using their jail time to recruit members, peddle drugs and intimidate prison staff.

"If there is a problem, concentrating them in one area is bound to magnify the problem if there is indeed a problem," Mr O'Gorman told AAP.

The state opposition said the laws should have been reviewed by a parliamentary committee before being put to parliament.

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Qld compo changes to be rushed through

The Queensland government says changes to the workers compensation scheme will protect employers. Source: AAP

SOME Queenslanders injured at work will no longer be able to sue their employers under reforms to be rushed through state parliament.

Bosses will also be able to access job applicants' workers compensation history.

Unions, the opposition and lawyers say parts of the shake-up are unjustified and unfair, especially when the state's workers compensation scheme, WorkCover, made half a billion dollars profit last financial year.

Attorney-General Jarrod Bleijie unveiled the changes on Tuesday and declared the legislation "urgent" so it bypasses scrutiny by a parliamentary committee and is passed this week.

The most controversial changes would give employers access to the claims history of job applicants.

Critics say the move could lead to discrimination, but the government says it will red flag those who've rorted the system.

Penalties for those who make fraudulent compensation claims will increase.

And a worker would no longer be able to sue their employer if their injury causes just five per cent or less impairment.

A bipartisan parliamentary committee recommended against a threshold, but the former WorkCover chairman wanted a 10-15 per cent cap.

In defending the changes, Mr Bleijie said Queensland would have the lowest threshold to access common law damages in Australia, with the exception of the ACT.

"The changes aim to strike a better balance between providing appropriate benefits for injured workers and ensuring the costs incurred by employers are reasonable," he said.

"Having a competitive premium will encourage more investment into our great state."

Lower-end common law claims accounted for around half the payouts in the scheme.

Queensland Council of Unions president John Battams says half of all injured workers will now be denied the right to sue an negligent employer.

"Even a small degree of permanent impairment can have a devastating effect on a worker's future employment prospects," he said.

"Without an appropriate, independently adjudicated payout many of these workers and their families face a life of poverty."

The Australian Lawyers Alliance (ALA) said WorkCover's annual report, released late on Monday, proved the changes were unjustified.

"WorkCover profits are up, common law claims are down and Queensland has the second lowest premiums in Australia," the ALA's Queensland president Michelle James said in a statement.

"The total cost of common law claims was also down more than $50 million compared with the previous year.

"That's not a scheme rife with unworthy claims."

Shadow treasurer Curtis Pitt said the changes were yet another rush job by a government intent on avoiding the usual scrutiny.

"No wonder they are getting to be known as the know-it-all Newman government," Mr Pitt said.

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Elderly man missing on Bribie Island

AN elderly man has been missing on an island north of Brisbane for six days.

Police say 73-year-old Michael Newbon was last seen walking along the Heathland Street fire break heading towards Banksia Beach on Wednesday morning.

Mr Newbon, who suffers from a medical condition, has not been seen since.

Emergency services have conducted land and air searches, but failed to find any trace of him.

Residents are being asked to continue to check their yards, garages and sheds in the case Mr Newbon is sheltering there.

He's described being 180cm with a slim build and short grey hair.

Mr Newbon was wearing a navy polo shirt, long navy trousers and black dress shoes when he disappeared.

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Average wet season forecast for northwest

RESIDENTS in Western Australia's north are being urged to prepare for the cyclone and flood season, which starts in a fortnight.

The Bureau of Meteorology (BoM) says there is a 55 per cent chance of a near-average wet season, with five tropical cyclones expected in waters off the northwest coast between November 1 and April 30.

Two cyclones are forecast to hit the coast, one of which could be severe, the BoM says.

BoM spokesman Greg Browning urged residents in the northwest, especially between Broome and Exmouth, to begin preparations.

"Although we are forecasting the number of cyclones to be close to average, no one can say if this is going to be the season when your community cops a big hit," he said.

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