Public servant slams pink batts processes

A SENIOR public servant who described Kevin Rudd as "scary" in satirical presentation slides says he was treated unethically while devising the home insulation scheme.

Federal environment department assistant secretary Kevin Keeffe told a royal commission in Brisbane on Monday it was unethical for bureaucrats not to warn him that his business model would be dumped at a meeting attended by senator Mark Arbib.

But Mr Keeffe had to defend his own actions when the inquiry was shown a series of slides he made for a presentation to environment department staff in September 2009, two months after the scheme's rollout.

The first described former prime minister Rudd, former co-ordinator general Mark Mrdak and then environment minister Peter Garrett as "some scary people".

"When I say scary, they were key stakeholders we had to manage," Mr Keeffe told the inquiry.

There were also slides about "scary numbers", "scary timelines" and "scary stakeholders" in relation to the home insulation scheme.

Earlier, the inquiry heard how Mr Keeffe was furious to learn at a March 31, 2009, meeting that his business model for the program had been dumped.

He said he should have been warned before the meeting attended by Mr Arbib, Mr Mrdak and staff at the co-ordinator-general's office.

"It's not the done thing in public service culture for a central agency to not give someone at my level a heads-up this is going to come," Mr Keeffe told the inquiry.

"To have it delivered to you on a plate is unethical."

Mr Keeffe was still fuming after the meeting, and fired off emails to others in the department.

"I'm past slow smolder (sic). Seriously cranky," one email read.

"Still cranky at being put into unwinnable position where blame flows our way," another said.

Before the scheme's July 1, 2009, introduction, the environment department's regional brokerage model was switched to a more centralised one that allowed for the participation of smaller installation businesses.

The scheme ended up being swamped by low-skilled workers who required only a general safety induction before entering ceilings.

Mr Keeffe said he pushed for installers to be trained but was overruled because the government was more concerned about job creation and stimulating the economy.

Training for installers was scaled back to include only supervisors, but Mr Keeffe said it was always his expectation that anyone entering a roof would have to first complete a five-day training course.

He also told the inquiry he didn't expect installers in Australia to die, despite fatalities occurring in New Zealand.

Four installers died in Australia, including two who were using metal staples to secure foil insulation.

Three New Zealand installers died using the same practice in 2007.

The inquiry before commissioner Ian Hanger QC continues.

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Deja vu all over again for WA voters

Tony Abbott (L) and Bill Shorten are campaigning ahead of the WA Senate election re-run on Saturday. Source: AAP

HAVEN'T we heard all this before?

That is surely what the West Australian electorate was thinking on Monday as the state's looming Senate election re-run brought politicians by the planeload to Perth - with plenty to say but little of it new.

While Prime Minister Tony Abbott was rebranding his agreement with WA Premier Colin Barnett for the national disability insurance scheme, Opposition Leader Bill Shorten was preparing to appear at a teachers rally - just as he did the week before September's poll.

And with Clive Palmer making plenty of noise, micro-parties threatening an upset and Greens Senator Scott Ludlam battling hard for his political future, the fourth WA election campaign in just more than a year has been a case of deja vu for the election-weary west.

Mr Abbott made an early-morning swoop into RAAF Pearce to meet the troops searching for the missing Malaysia Airlines flight before hitting the hustings in the city.

The PM accused the opposition of untruths over school funding, defended his reinstatement of knights and dames, and pushed for the abolition of the mining and carbon taxes.

"The people of WA need to know that Labor is not being straight with you, and Bill Shorten won't give you a straight answer about the carbon tax and the mining tax here in Perth," Mr Abbott said.

With a teachers strike set to close more than 100 WA schools on Tuesday, Mr Shorten got in early to attend a school in Belmont, in Perth's east, with a message about Liberal education cuts.

"Education cuts are occurring in Western Australia and if Tony Abbott gets a rubber stamp in his Senate ... we'll see further cuts to West Australian schools," Mr Shorten said.

Meanwhile, Mr Palmer's pre-election advertising blitz for his Palmer United party (PUP) reached fever pitch, with claims the Liberals and Labor are "taking bread out of the mouths of WA babies".

While up to three radio ads ran in each break on local stations, an animated YouTube slot from PUP claimed the flow of WA's GST share to the east was denying food for the state's children.

"They send our GST to Melbourne and Sydney - get it back," the PUP ad urged.

Meanwhile, the Australian Sports party - whose candidate, Wayne Dropulich, won a Senate seat in the recount - has been criticised for posting a topless woman on its Facebook page as part of its campaign.

The image - accompanied by a joke involving a weight-loss program that encouraged an overweight man to chase naked women - appeared on the party's site late last week.

The campaign will continue on Tuesday, with Mr Abbott set to host the entire federal cabinet in Perth, while Mr Shorten will rally on the steps of state parliament along with the teachers union.

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Big demand by abused for private hearings

THE royal commission into child sexual abuse is receiving about 40 requests by abuse survivors for private sessions each week.

After about 12 months of private and public hearings, the royal commission chairman Peter McClellan says the demand for private hearings with a commissioner is not abating.

Almost 1500 private sessions with sex abuse survivors have been held since the commission started and more than 1000 people are waiting to be heard.

"I still cannot identify how many people will ultimately want to come and talk," Justice McClellan said in Melbourne at a conference on Monday.

"We have only just begun to engage with people in prisons, people with disabilities, and people in remote communities."

He said many people in the private sessions said that their story has been heard and accepted for the very first time.

The demand is so huge that if the royal commission stops its public and private hearings at the end of 2015, as initially expected, about 2000 people would miss out on private sessions.

Justice McClellan said he has raised this issue with the attorney-general.

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Tasmanian govt, ALP leader made official

Will Hodgman (L) has been sworn in as Tasmania's first Liberal premier in 16 years. Source: AAP

TASMANIA officially has a new government and a new opposition leader.

Will Hodgman is the state's 45th premier after being sworn in at Government House to lead Tasmania's first Liberal government in 16 years.

A smiling Mr Hodgman and his eight cabinet colleagues took oaths before Governor Peter Underwood, family and Liberal party staff.

Across town, at Parliament House, Labor's caucus was thrashing out the leadership issue, with former deputy premier Bryan Green unanimously winning a caucus vote.

Mr Green's elevation came after outgoing premier Lara Giddings resigned and nominated her deputy, saying the party needed to unite.

Ms Giddings had said she'd be a candidate for opposition leader if her party wanted her, but her preferred premier rating struggled to get above the low 20s during her three-year reign.

The Tasmanian ALP was to become the first state branch in the country to instigate a ballot including rank and file members, but the unanimous vote meant it was not needed.

Former health minister Michelle O'Byrne will be Mr Green's deputy.

Mr Green, 56, began his working life as a fitter and machinist at a Burnie paper mill before his election to parliament in 1998.

"I come from an industrial background, worked on the tools for 19 years," he said.

"It gives me a balance."

He was forced to step down from the ministry in 2006 after allegations about his dealings with the Tasmanian Compliance Corporation.

Mr Green faced charges but juries could not reach verdicts at a trial in 2007 and retrial in 2008.

"I've certainly learnt form that whole process. It's made me a much tougher individual," he told reporters in Hobart.

"Obviously, I proclaimed my innocence the whole way through that process and don't forget I've had a couple of light plane crashes in between.

"I am a survivor and the things that don't kill you just make you stronger."

It had been speculated Mr Green would be appointed as an interim leader to rebuild the party before a younger successor took over.

But he committed to leading it to the next election due in four years.

Ms Giddings said she had no intention of quitting parliament to allow defeated potential leader David O'Byrne to take her seat on a count-back.

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UK army cuts 'hell of a risk': general

A senior UK general says Russia has now become a "strategic adversary" of NATO. Source: AAP

RESTRUCTURING the British army is "one hell of a risk" that will weaken the armed forces, one of the country's most senior generals has warned.

General Sir Richard Shirreff warned that the "jury is out still" on plans to slash numbers in the regular army and substitute them with reservists, saying if the idea is going to work "the nation needs to get behind" it.

The general said defence cuts had "hollowed out" the armed forces, particularly the Royal Navy, which have been "cut to the bone" and left unable to take part in NATO maritime operations.

Russia's takeover of Crimea meant it was imperative for the UK to protect its defence budget, he said, even if that meant other departments suffered.

The general, the army's third most senior officer, stepped down from his post as NATO deputy supreme commander on Friday and will leave the army in August.

His warning, in an interview with the Sunday Times, comes days after MPs warned Prime Minister David Cameron against any further cuts to Britain's armed forces after Russian's annexation of Crimea.

The government is cutting the regular army from 102,000 to 82,000 by 2020, while the newly-renamed Army Reserve - formerly the Territorial Army - is being expanded from 19,000 to 30,000.

General Shirreff said those implementing the changes had "made a pretty good fist of a very difficult hand of cards", but added: "I wouldn't want to let anybody think that I think that Army 2020 is good news, it's not.

"The sort of defence cuts we have seen ... have really hollowed out the British armed forces and I think that people need to sit up and recognise that."

He told the newspaper his biggest concern was the impact of cuts on the navy, which have left it without an operational aircraft carrier until 2020 and a fleet of just 19 frigates and destroyers.

The general said the Royal Navy's ability to participate in NATO naval maritime operations have been compromised, which affected how people think about the UK.

He said: "A hollowed-out navy means you can't project power. I've heard this said in the Ministry of Defence: 'The yardstick by which we measure ourselves is our ability to punch above our weight'. You can't do that now. By that yardstick, therefore, we're failing."

General Shirreff warned the question of whether the army being more dependent on reserves would work or not was still unanswered, but he said it was "one hell of a risk".

He said it would need a "complete shift in culture" and support from the wider public and employers if it is to succeed, saying: "... the nation needs to get behind this. It's not just the armed forces - this is everybody's business."

The general, who has been co-ordinating NATO's response to the crisis in Crimea and Ukraine, warned of further aggression by Russian president Vladimir Putin, the Sunday Times said.

After Russia's "armed illegal aggression", the country has now become a "strategic adversary" of NATO, rather than a "strategic partner", General Shirreff said, and he argued that the UK and other European countries now need to protect their defence budgets to deter Russia, meaning cuts to other Whitehall departments.

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Vic rally in protest at East-West Link

Hundreds of protesters have marched in Melbourne against the planned East-West toll road and tunnel. Source: AAP

HUNDREDS of people have rallied in Melbourne seeking public transport alternatives to the Victorian government's $8-billion East-West Link Tunnel project.

The lively crowd of young and old chanted "No tunnel. No Way. We're gonna fight it all the way!" as they made their way up Sydney Road in Melbourne's north on Sunday afternoon.

Demonstrators bearing "Trains not Toll Roads" signs marched in support of the Doncaster Rail project and against the $8-billion tunnel which they believe will bring traffic gridlock, trucks and pollution.

The rally organisers, backed by Moreland Council, say residents are distressed about the disruption the project will cause to the area, especially Royal Park and Melbourne Zoo.

Kindergarten teacher Caroline Lunt is worried about the environmental impact of the project and said she was there to save hundreds of trees in Royal Park, "the lungs of the city".

Bike mechanic Mark Gilligan, said the money allocated for the road project could be better spent on other projects, including public transport, which will support Melbourne in years to come.

"Seeing drivers frustrated, rages between cyclists and cars - we need to take action for the future rather than some short-term stunt," he said.

The Victorian government has said the toll road will cut traffic congestion by about a third on a key access route into the city.

It hopes to start building the $8 billion stage one, which will connect the Eastern Freeway to Melbourne's western suburbs, this year and have it finished by 2019.

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Plane diverted from MH370 search

AN Australian air force plane has been diverted from the search for Malaysia Airlines flight 370 to respond to a fishing boat's emergency distress beacon near Antarctica.

The P3 Orion was on Sunday afternoon sent from the Indian Ocean search zone to look for a fishing boat in trouble about 3240km southwest of Perth and 650km north of the Antarctic mainland, the Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) said.

"The rescue coordination centre was unable to establish communications with the vessel and the nature of distress is unknown," AMSA added.

Authorities sent the P3 as it is capable of dropping survival equipment.

"A broadcast to shipping has been issued, however due to the remoteness of the location it is unlikely that any other ships will be near the area," AMSA said.

"The weather forecast for the area is extremely poor with low cloud, rain, snow and a water temperature of 2 degrees Celsius."

The beacon is registered to a fishing vessel, but no details of the nationality, crew or size of the vessel have been released.

To replace the Orion in the search for MH370 a civilian jet has been dispatched from Melbourne.

That jet is expected to take five hours to travel nearly 4000km to the search zone, where it can fly for a further two hours before having to turn back.

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20 rescued from broken Perth chairlift

EMERGENCY workers have rescued 20 people trapped on a chairlift at a Perth adventure park.

WA's Department of Fire and Emergency Services were called to Adventure World in Bibra Lake on Sunday afternoon, after the chairlift ground to a halt with almost two dozen people on board.

After almost three hours, the last of them was rescued, with 12 firefighters using a cherry picker to free the stranded patrons.

The trapped riders have been provided with water while work continued to free them.

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Syringe threat in Vic carjacking

A WOMAN has been threatened with a syringe during a carjacking in Melbourne, police say.

The woman was parked in a shopping centre in Dandenong on Saturday afternoon when a man approached her car and allegedly threatened her with a syringe.

He demanded the woman get out of the car and she did.

The man then got into her car and drove away.

Police said the stolen car is a red 2006 Ford sedan with registration number UQI 236.

The man is described as caucasian, with blonde hair and a thin build.

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Chinese plane spots objects in jet search

CHINA'S state news agency says a Chinese aircraft has spotted three suspicious objects floating in a search area for the missing Malaysia Airlines jet.

Xinhua News Agency said on Saturday that the Chinese military plane Ilyushin IL-76 sighted the three floating objects of white, red and orange colours respectively, from an altitude of 300 metres.

Flight 370 disappeared March 8 while bound from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.

Investigators believed it crashed in the southern Indian Ocean, where planes and ships have been looking to recover any debris.

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