Australian man dies at Indonesian volcano

An Australian man has died as he was setting out to climb Indonesia's Mount Rinjani volcano. Source: AAP

AN Australian man has died from a suspected asthma attack as he was setting out to climb Indonesia's Mount Rinjani volcano.

Cairns man John-Paul Lipscombe, 53, died two kilometres from the entrance to the mountain park on Monday morning, police captain I Wayan Redana says.

"The victim is suspected to have died due to his asthma condition," he said.

"Just after two kilometres from the entrance gate of Rinjani Mountain, the victim suddenly passed out and died at the location.

"The victim's friends contacted Bayan Police Station."

Capt Redana says Mr Lipscombe was in a group of 10 hikers from various countries who set out before 10am.

Rinjani, an active volcano on the island of Lombok, is becoming popular with tourists, who are able to climb about 2700 metres to its rim, or take a more arduous climb to its peak.

Rinjani is the second highest volcano in Indonesia.

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Calls for floor price on cigarettes

Nick Xenophon is pushing for a minimum floor price on cigarettes to counter $13 packs in the market. Source: AAP

AN independent senator is pushing for a minimum floor price on cigarettes to counter a tobacco giant's "cynical" move to sell discounted packets.

British American Tobacco Australia has launched what it claims is the cheapest legal packet of cigarettes on the market at $13 for a 25-pack.

It is blaming federal government policy for the move, saying it's simply seeking to remain competitive as sales of cut-price cigarettes soar.

Senator Nick Xenophon has accused the tobacco giant of circumventing laws to discourage people from smoking.

He plans to introduce a resolution in the upper house next week to seek a minimum floor price for all cigarettes sold in Australia.

"We need to outsmart big tobacco in terms of what they've done with this price-discounting and loss-leading campaign," he told ABC TV on Monday.

Senator Xenophon will consult with public health experts on the most effective disincentive price but wants to see a minimum of $20 for a 25-pack.

It was the best option to combat a "deeply cynical" campaign aimed at boosting the ranks of younger smokers, he said.

Senator Xenophon also dismissed "exaggerated" industry claims that plain packaging laws and large excises were driving up black market sales.

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Scottish tourist missing in Victoria

POLICE have appealed for public help to find a missing UK tourist who has not had contact with his family in Scotland for two weeks.

Twenty-six year old Jonathan Ansell, who has been in Australia for about two years, last told his family he was in Melbourne, but Mr Ansell may have travelled within Victoria or interstate.

He is described as of Caucasian appearance, 175cm tall with a fair complexion and short, light brown to dark blonde hair.

Anyone who sees him should call triple-zero.

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BHP axes 170 jobs at WA iron ore mine

BHP Billiton has slashed 170 jobs at its massive Mt Whaleback iron ore mine in Western Australia. Source: AAP

BHP Billiton has slashed 170 jobs at its massive Mt Whaleback iron ore mine in Western Australia's Pilbara region, saying the cuts are part of the company's bid to increase export volumes while reducing costs.

The mining giant said it would assist affected employees through the process and seek redeployment opportunities where possible.

BHP Billiton said its iron ore unit regularly undertook reviews to ensure it was operating as efficiently as possible.

"This includes reviewing the size and structure of our workforce to ensure it supports the delivery of our productivity agenda," the company said in an emailed statement.

"We have been open with our employees about the work being done to improve productivity."

BHP Billiton last week axed about 100 staff from its iron ore division headquarters in Perth.

Chief executive Andrew Mackenzie last week told reporters in Beijing that the iron ore market was oversupplied.

"We don't quite see the case for the scale of investment we saw in the last 10 years," he said.

The Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union said Mt Whaleback employees had been treated appallingly.

Workers were finding out whether they still had a job when they turned up for their shift.

"Workers will be turning up for their shifts all week without knowing whether they're in the firing line," CFMEU mining and energy WA secretary Gary Wood said.

"Many of those losing their jobs live locally and will have to uproot their families in search of a new job."

The union said BHP Billiton could "easily" absorb fluctuations in the iron ore price without slashing jobs.

"Instead it is throwing workers and families into turmoil because of its ruthless focus on cutting costs to improve shareholder returns," Mr Wood said.

"Mining should benefit the whole community not just shareholders and BHP should be fighting to keep its people in work rather than throwing them on the scrap heap at the first opportunity."

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Remains of NT croc attack victim found

Water police are searching a billabong in the Kakadu National Park for a man taken by a crocodile. Source: AAP

THE remains of a man taken by a crocodile in front of his family in the Northern Territory's Kakadu National Park have been recovered.

Two crocodiles were shot and killed by rangers who were searching for the 62-year-old on Sunday.

One of the crocs, which was 4.7 metres long, contained the remains of the man, a police spokesman told reporters.

The man was on a boat with his son, wife and daughter-in-law when he was attacked on a billabong near Cooinda, on Saturday afternoon.

"During daylight hours today Kakadu rangers using their expertise of crocodile management behaviour managed to locate two large saltwater crocodiles in the billabong," Sergeant Andrew Hocking said.

"Two of the crocs were shot and killed.

"One of those crocs was later examined and a quantity of human remains was recovered."

Sgt Hocking said the remains were yet to be formally identified. The reptiles were found about 1.5 kilometres from where the man was taken.

There's no indication the man was swimming when the incident happened, although investigations are continuing, Sgt Hocking said.

He also said reports the man and his family were in a closed area of the park were incorrect, as the area had recently been opened to the public.

Crocodile expert Graeme Webb said it was unusual for a croc to attack at this time of year, as the reptiles usually laid low during the cooler months.

"They tend to move around a lot more when it warms up... and that's when they're more dangerous," he told AAP.

"But crocs will still take prey during the cooler months.

"I don't know what has happened in this case but it just sounds horrific. It's just awful, you just can't begin to understand how [the man's family] must feel."

Mr Webb, chair of the International Union for Conservation of Nature's Crocodile Specialist Group, said there have been a number of reports in the past of reptiles approaching and going aboard boats.

Police haven't released the dead man's name.

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Authorities work to recover fallen body

A man has died after falling over a cliff in the Royal National Park south of Sydney. Source: AAP

AUTHORITIES will work through the evening to recover the body of a experienced climber who died after falling 40 metres off a cliff in the Royal National Park south of Sydney.

Initially it was thought the Frenchman, named by the Seven Network as "Fabian" had dropped about 10 metres, but on Sunday evening police said "it appears the man has fallen closer to about 40 metres down the cliff face".

He was hanging from a sandstone ledge while on a morning walk with his girlfriend and mates from Wollongong University when he lost his grip.

"At this stage the body is still being recovered and the next-of-kin have not been notified," local police Inspector Mark Magrath said.

Authorities tried to access the body by air but high winds and rough seas are impeding recovery efforts, he added.

The SES has rigged anchor points into bedrock and on Sunday night were abseiling to recover the body.

"The recovery operation is ongoing. It's involving police rescue, Fire and Rescue and SES officers," a police spokeswoman said.

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Sotheby's goes street with Banksy exhibit

THERE'S a dead rat at the heart of a new exhibition mounted by august auction house Sotheby's.

Stuffed and sporting a backpack and a spray can, the rodent is the creation-cum-alter ego of Banksy, the anonymous street artist turned art-world superstar.

It's a sign of his status that Sotheby's is behind one of the largest-ever Banksy exhibitions, a display of kissing policemen, placard-wearing chimpanzees and smiley-faced riot police spanning much of the artist's career. Some of the works originally sold for as little as STG50 ($A91.27). Now, prices range from STG4,000 ($A7,301.27) to more than STG500,000 ($A912,658.57).

Banksy is not involved in the show, which is being billed as an "unauthorised retrospective". It has been assembled by his former agent Steve Lazarides, who first met Banksy in the 1990s in their home town of Bristol in southwest England.

Lazarides took a paint-filled fire extinguisher to the gallery's white walls to make it look less like an alien environment for graffiti art. But, he conceded Friday, "it's completely paradoxical for me to be here, for the work to be here."

"It's in a space it almost shouldn't be and viewed in a way it was never intended," he said. "But I think that's part of the fun."

The 70 paintings, prints and sculptures, owned by Lazarides and other collectors, display Banksy's subversive - if not always subtle - humour. Winston Churchill sports a Mohawk haircut; genteel pensioners play lawn bowls with fizzing bombs; a ballerina breathes through a gas mask; a hungry child with an empty bowl wears a Burger King hat.

Several early works feature police officers - bane of Banksy's existence as a young street artist. For others, he's altered existing paintings: Van Gogh's sunflowers have withered and died; flying saucers disrupt a maritime scene.

Some have not been seen in public for years, including the rat, in a glass case bearing the words "Our time will come". Banksy installed it in 2004 in London's Natural History Museum as hundreds of visitors and staff walked by.

Banksy works have fetched as much as $1.8 million at auction, so it's no surprise that several of his outdoor works have recently - and controversially - been stripped from walls and sold for high prices.

None of the pieces in the London show was originally street art, and Sotheby's contemporary art chief Cheyenne Westphal said all have been endorsed as genuine by Pest Control, Banksy's authentication service.

"Works that are on the street don't get certificates," she said. "They're there to be enjoyed, they're there to be seen but they're not there to be resold again."

As his career has bloomed, Banksy has left his spray-painted mark worldwide, from the streets of New York to the Israel-Palestine separation wall.

As for big gallery shows like this, Lazarides said: "He hates it."

Lazarides, who parted company with Banksy several years ago, takes a different view.

"The show being here at Sotheby's is almost a validation of the whole scene," he said. "When we were doing this 15 years ago, everyone told us this was impossible, no one would buy the work, it was a fad, it would disappear.

"People tend to forget that (Jean-Michel) Basquiat and Keith Haring were graffiti artists first. This is just following on from a rich tradition."

The exhibition opens at Sotheby's S/2 Gallery in London on Wednesday and runs to July 25.

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Smithsonian names Aussie museum director

THE Smithsonian has named Australian Melissa Chiu, a museum leader for the Asia Society in New York, as the next director of the Hirshhorn Museum for modern and contemporary art in Washington.

Darwin-born Chiu joins the Smithsonian in September. She succeeds Richard Koshalek who resigned last year after a dispute with the museum's board over funding to build an inflatable pavilion at the museum for special performances and programs.

Chiu has served as director of the Asia Society Museum since 2004 and previously was curator for contemporary Asian and Asian-American art.

Smithsonian officials say Chiu is a prolific fundraiser, securing 80 per cent of the Asia Society Museum's $US29 million ($A31.38 million) budget.

The Hirshhorn has an $US8 million budget, and the Smithsonian provides $US10 million in operating support.

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No visa info over Tamil's death: group

IMMIGRATION Minister Scott Morrison says Australian officials have contacted the family of a Tamil asylum seeker explaining visa processes so they can travel to Australia to attend his funeral.

But a spokesman for the Tamil Refugee Council said on Saturday that no one from the Australian Immigration department has been in touch with the family in India.

Asylum seeker Leorsin Seemanpillai, 29, died last Sunday after dousing himself in petrol and setting himself alight in Geelong.

Refugee advocates say the Tamil feared being returned to Sri Lanka because he thought he faced persecution from authorities.

The government has offered to return his body to Sri Lanka or India.

But immediate family who live in a refugee camp in Tamil Nadu in southern India say they fear for their safety if the funeral is held in either country. They are seeking visas to attend the funeral in Australia.

Mr Morrison acknowledged that they face very real difficulties.

He said the department had explained to them the process of application for a short-term visitor visa to travel to Australia, including the need for travel documents.

That process was very clear and it would be up to the immigration department to assess their application.

"It's not available to the minister to instruct the department in issuing a visitor visa in circumstances like these and they will have to apply the law as it stands," he told ABC radio.

Tamil Refugee Council spokesman Aran Mylvaganam said he had spoken to Mr Seemanpillai's father on Saturday, specifically asking if anyone from the Australian Immigration department had contacted him to explain how to obtain a visa.

The only Australian officials they had heard from were the Victorian refugee assistance group AMES, which offered to pay funeral costs, and the coroner's office in Melbourne.

"Either Morrison is getting the wrong advice from his department or he is simply trying to misinform the Australian people," he said in a statement.

"Whatever is the case, it is an absolute disgrace that he won't intervene to help this family in a moment of dire need."

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One dead, one hurt in SA speed boat crash

ONE person is dead and another has been rushed to hospital after a speedboat crashed on the Murray River in South Australia.

SA Police say Saturday afternoon's accident occurred during a competitive event.

"There were two victims, one is sadly deceased," an SA police spokesman said.

"The other has got some serious burns and has been flown to the Royal Adelaide Hospital."

The Adelaide Advertiser reported the victims were both male, but SA Police were unable to provide further details.

"It was a sad tragic way of ending the day's competition there," the police spokesman said.

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