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."

16.57 | 0 komentar | Read More

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.

16.57 | 0 komentar | Read More

PM wants Monash to be household name

THE efforts of Australian General John Monash on the Western Front in World War I should be as widely recognised as the story of Simpson and his donkey at Gallipoli, Prime Minister Tony Abbott says.

Mr Abbott revealed on Saturday a new memorial centre to be built in France would be named in honour of the Australian military leader, who is regarded as one of the great tacticians of World War I.

After joining world leaders at D-Day commemorations in Normandy on Friday, Mr Abbott turned his attention to the First World War as he visited the Australian National Memorial at Villers-Bretonneux for the first time.

While not as famous as the Gallipoli campaign, the efforts of Australian diggers to stop German forces on the Western Front were critical to the outcome of the war.

Of the 295,000 Australians who fought there between 1916 and 1918, 46,000 never made it home and the prime minister is leading a push he believes will help improve a sense of national identity.

"No place on earth has been more densely sown with Australian sacrifice than these fields in France," Mr Abbott said.

"Australians should be as familiar with the story of the Western Front as we are with Gallipoli.

"Australians should be at least as familiar with the achievements of Monash as we are with the heroism of John Simpson Kirkpatrick (in Gallipoli)."

Sir John Monash was involved in the failed Gallipoli campaign but used his experiences to lead several significant battlefield victories, including the decisive Battle of Amiens.

Mr Abbott said he brought organisation and technology to the battlefield to "break the stalemate of trench warfare".

Attendances at the annual Anzac Day dawn service at Villers-Bretonneux have grown steadily in recent years, with the crowd this year surpassing that at Gallipoli.

Some predict it will become the nation's clear focal point of Anzac Day commemorations beyond next year's centenary in Gallipoli.

"Australians should congregate here, every April 25th, no less than at Anzac Cove," Mr Abbott said.

"And on Anzac Day four years hence, the centenary of the Battle of Villers-Bretonneux, I'm sure they will."

Mr Abbott said it was expected the new "interpretive centre", to be built behind the Australian memorial, would open in 2018 to coincide with 100th anniversary commemorations.

The "Sir John Monash" centre will help to better explain Australia's role in the final victories of World War I and the government will put up $6.9 million for the initial planning.

16.57 | 0 komentar | Read More

Alleged Sydney card skimmer charged

A man has been caught allegedly skimming money out of ATMs in Sydney's west using stolen card data. Source: AAP

A MAN has been caught allegedly skimming money out of ATMs in Sydney's west using stolen card data.

Police were contacted after the 27-year-old was seen acting suspiciously in Parramatta on Friday morning, walking from one ATM to another, allegedly making transactions with several cards.

Officers later detained and searched the man, finding 15 store cards, which are believed to have been encoded with stolen card data. He also had more than $4000 in cash on him.

The Fairfield man was charged with dishonestly obtaining financial advantage by deception and two other related charges.

He was granted conditional bail and is due to appear at Parramatta Local Court on July 16.

16.57 | 0 komentar | Read More

Open West Papua to media, NGOs: Jokowi

INDONESIAN presidential candidate Joko Widodo has promised to open West Papua to foreign journalists and non-government organisations if he wins next month's election.

Access to the troubled Indonesian province is broadly restricted to foreign reporters but this doesn't stop requests for entry, particularly from Australian media.

Those who defy the ban typically report being followed and questioned by Indonesian police.

Visiting Jayapura on Thursday, the presidential favourite known as Jokowi promised to allow access, The Jakarta Post reports.

"Why not? It's safe here in Papua," he was quoted as saying. "There's nothing to hide."

The popular former Jakarta governor promised to improve education and healthcare in West Papua.

Foreign NGOs have reported difficulties getting access to the area, which lags behind the rest of Indonesia in development despite being resource-rich.

In October last year, three West Papuan activists climbed the wall into the Australian consulate in Bali to demand media access to the province.

Ahead of a visit by Prime Minister Tony Abbott, the trio presented a letter asking for him to seek the release of political prisoners from Indonesian jails.

Mr Abbott reiterated his support for Indonesia's sovereignty over Papua.

Indonesia's presidential race officially began on Wednesday, with Jokowi facing stiff competition from rival Prabowo Subianto, a former military commander.

Indonesia goes to the polls on July 9.

16.57 | 0 komentar | Read More

Two more Nauru opposition MPs banned

TWO more opposition MPs have been suspended from the Nauru parliament amid claims the government is trying to avoid scrutiny of a budget that contains Australian funding for asylum seekers.

The Nauru government is expected to hand down its budget later on Thursday.

Three opposition MPs were banned from parliament in May amid chaotic scenes that included a police stand-off.

Another two - former president Sprent Dabwido and Squire Jeremiah - were suspended on Thursday for behaving in an "unparliamentary, disorderly, shameful, disgraceful way" during the last sitting day in May.

A committee will examine whether to freeze their entitlements.

They had opposed the earlier suspensions of Roland Kun, former foreign minister Kieren Keke and Mathew Batsiua.

That trio had been booted from parliament for talking to foreign journalists and criticising the government's decision to expel the country's chief justice, Australian Geoffrey Eames, and the dismissal of its only magistrate, Peter Law, another Australian.

There are now only three non-government MPs left in the parliament, facing 11 from the government.

"The whole thing has gone pear-shaped," Mr Kun told AAP from New Zealand.

"We're pleading for the Speaker to save the legislature because the government has already killed the judiciary."

The opposition is unable to seek a Supreme Court ruling because no chief justice has been appointed to replace Mr Eames.

Mr Kun believes the latest suspensions are connected to budget timing.

"There are numerous holes in the budget but we can't put a finger on them until they actually present the paper work," he said.

Australia provides much of the government's budget, which it uses to run an immigration detention centre and resettlement program.

So far Nauru has resettled 41 refugees on a temporary basis until a third country, expected to be Cambodia, agrees to a deal with Australia.

The detention centre is accommodating more than 1100 asylum seekers.

Opposition MPs are concerned that funding for health care, education, transport and utilities is going backwards.

Mr Kun believes money has been diverted to a pool of fund used to pay cash bonuses to "selected individuals".

If the budget passes on Thursday parliament may not sit again until next year, he said.

16.57 | 0 komentar | Read More

Australia looks beyond China for growth

AUSTRALIA won't be putting all of its economic and investment eggs into China's basket, Trade Minister Andrew Robb says.

Mr Robb and Prime Minister Tony Abbott will embark on a trade and investment tour of Canada and the United States next week.

It will include Mr Abbott's first meeting with US President Barack Obama at the White House.

Mr Robb will lead a separate business delegation to Ottawa, Toronto, New York and Houston.

China accounts for 30 per cent of Australia's exports and about $151 billion in two-way trade.

Critics say this leaves the Australian economy open to danger should the Chinese economy slow down.

But Mr Robb said the argument was misguided, particularly given the interest in Australia from the US, Canada, Indonesia, the Gulf States and Singapore.

"I've done 28 investment roundtables in 10 countries," he told AAP.

"They want a stable, certain investment environment.

"I think we are quite attractive and we are restoring the gold standard for sovereign risk."

The US had 10 times more invested in Australia than it had in China, and Australia had $30 billion invested in China but $450 billion in the US.

"I'm very conscious of the fact that the long-term investors - the US, UK, Switzerland and Japan - will continue to be the mainstay of our investment," Mr Robb said.

"A lot of the growth may come out of China and others but you still need the mainstay.

"We can't put our eggs in the one basket but it's fair to say we are not."

The focus of Mr Robb's mission will be pension funds and other investors in North America with an interest in tourism and hospitality, medical research and devices, resources and energy, education and agribusiness.

"These are five things we feel we are as good as anybody and better than most," he said.

There was also the potential for investment in some of the $200 billion in potential state asset sales spurred on by the government's offer of a 15 per cent bonus if the money is put back into infrastructure.

Capital was needed to build five-star hotels to service the growing number of high-spending Chinese tourists.

Agribusiness investment was essential to growing high-value food and fibre products, processing it and shipping it overseas.

Mr Robb's next trip after North America will be to Switzerland and the UK.

16.57 | 0 komentar | Read More

Dredge spoil dumping near reef approved

THE government body that protects the Great Barrier Reef has approved the dumping of more than 370,000 cubic metres of dredge spoil in the marine park.

The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority (GBRMPA) has issued a permit to allow a port authority to dump the spoil as part of a dredging project at Hay Point coal port in central Queensland.

The decision has angered conservation groups, and comes only months after the authority gave the green light for three million tonnes of spoil to be dumped as part of a project to expand the nearby Abbot Point coal port.

"It is an astounding level of arrogance," North Queensland Conservation Council spokeswoman Wendy Tubman said.

"The government claims it is protecting the reef while allowing it to be subjected to such damage from out-of-control sea dumping."

She also says the federal and Queensland governments are taking UNESCO "for a ride".

The United Nation's environment arm has said it regrets the federal government's decision to approve the Abbot Point dredging project, and has raised concerns about the overall health of the reef.

UNESCO is expected to discuss whether to list the reef as a World Heritage site "in danger" when it meets next week.

The Ports Corporation of Queensland wants to carry out the works at Hay Point to make it easier for ships to access the port and to increase capacity.

It's estimated 378,400 cubic metres of dredge spoil will be dumped within the marine park over three years.

The dredging will be carried out within the marine park and the World Heritage Area.

GBRMPA says no hard coral reefs are in the approved dredge disposal area.

It also says the permit imposes a number of conditions to minimise potential effects on the marine park, including the Whitsundays, which is north of Hay Point.

"With safeguards in place, the proposed dredging and dredge disposal is unlikely to significantly impact on the environmental, social, heritage and cultural values of the Marine Park," the authority said in a statement.

16.57 | 0 komentar | Read More

Confusion remains about Burma name change

CONFUSION over what to call Burma, or Myanmar, depending on who and where you are, seems to have surfaced once again.

For decades, Australia's foreign service referred to the Southeast Asian nation as Burma, but after democratic reforms, the previous Labor government in 2012 changed all official references to the Union of Myanmar.

Now it's been confirmed the Abbott government quietly switched back to Burma in late 2013, as rumoured, when the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) website suddenly reverted to the old title.

Consistency seems to be lacking, though.

DFAT's country brief uses Burma, but the Smartraveller website opts for Burma followed by Myanmar in brackets.

Liberal Senator Helen Kroger appeared unimpressed that references to Myanmar remained at all, given the directive from the prime minister in November.

In particular, the eagle-eyed senator grilled DFAT officials at a Senate estimates hearing on Wednesday about Australia's top envoy being confusingly called the ambassador to the Republic of the Union of Myanmar.

"There was a directive from the prime minister in relation to this foreign policy matter," Ms Kroger told a Senate estimates hearing on Wednesday.

"So you're saying that his word doesn't amount to anything?"

DFAT secretary Peter Varghese assured Senator Kroger his officials were "faithfully implementing" the prime minister's policy changes by the book.

Under the somewhat confusing guidelines, the government's policy is for diplomats and envoys to switch freely between Burma and Myanmar, depending on the circumstances.

When dealing with the government in Yangon or countries that prefer Myanmar, Australian officials follow suit.

But in domestic contexts or dealing with the US or UK, the older Burma title is adopted.

"Our ambassador to Myanmar would be our ambassador to Myanmar, because the country to which she is accredited is Myanmar, in the eyes of the government of Myanmar," Mr Varghese said.

16.57 | 0 komentar | Read More

Alleged jewellery thieves flaunted booty

IT took several police officers and a member of the public to bring down an alleged jewellery thief as he fled through a Perth mall before a dramatic arrest.

About 5.45pm (WST) on Wednesday, officers saw two men in their early 20s, who had allegedly stolen jewellery from a city store, filming and photographing themselves wearing the stolen goods, a police spokesman said.

Police caught one of the men and asked the other to hand over his mobile phone, but he took "an aggressive stance" and fled the scene.

Following a chase through Forrest Place, several officers and a member of the public brought the man to the ground.

Both men were taken into custody.

16.57 | 0 komentar | Read More